Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the impact of planning developments on habitats for great crested newts; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing local authority district-level licenses for relocating newts.

This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

Protected species are afforded legal protection in England due to their conservation status. A mitigation licence is required for developers to carry out various types of work that may affect a protected species or their habitat.

Defra and Natural England recognise that schemes that take a national, strategic approach to such licensing rather than on a site-by-site basis can deliver improved outcomes for the environment and for planning developments.

In 2017, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government funded Natural England to develop a strategic approach to licensing for great crested newts (GCN) to facilitate a quicker regulatory process, cost and time savings for developers, as well as better conservation outcomes. This resulted in Natural England's District Level Licensing (DLL) Scheme which, together with third party providers of comparable schemes licensed by Natural England, is now operational across 212 local planning authorities. DLL is underpinned by strategic assessments, which are undertaken to assess impacts on GCN and their habitat, and to target the creation of new habitat for colonisation.

On-site mitigation licenses remain available. Having two routes to support great crested newts means that the most appropriate mitigation for newts can be applied in an area while also supporting development.