The Wildlife Licence Charges (England) Order 2018

Exemptions, reductions and remissions

4.—(1) An applicant is exempt from a charge payable under article 3—

(a) where the licence is issued—

(i) for the purposes of preserving public health or public safety;

(ii) for the purposes of preventing serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber or any other form of property;

(iii) for the purposes of preventing the spread of disease;

(iv) under section 16(1)(e) of the 1981 Act, for the purposes of falconry; or

(v) in connection with development, within the meaning of section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990(1), which is granted planning permission—

(aa) pursuant to article 3 of, and Part 1 of Schedule 2 (development within the curtilage of a dwelling house) to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015(2); or

(bb) following the making of a householder application within the meaning of article 2 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management) (England) Order 2015(3);

(b) where the principal purpose or purposes of the project or activity to which the licence relates is or are—

(i) scientific, research or educational purposes relating to a protected species or habitat;

(ii) to maintain or improve the conservation of a protected species or habitat; or

(iii) to maintain or improve the conservation of an historic property; or

(c) where the applicant maintains or improves the conservation of bats through measures taken to avoid damage or destruction to an existing bat roost or to preserve access to that roost.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b)(iii), “historic property” includes—

(a) a scheduled monument (within the meaning of section 1(11) of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979)(4);

(b) a listed building (within the meaning of section 1 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990)(5);

(c) a place of worship;

(d) a traditional farm building to which a relevant commitment relates, where a “relevant commitment” is a commitment entered into under Title III of Regulation (EU) No. 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development(6).

(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(c), a “bat roost” means a maternity, day or hibernation roost, used by three or more bats concurrently, within a building or structure.

(4) Natural England may, in any case—

(a) reduce, or

(b) remit in whole or in part,

any charge payable under article 3, as it sees fit.

(1)

1990 c. 8. Section 55 was amended by the Planning and Compensation Act 1991 (c. 34) sections 13 and 14, and paragraph 9 of Schedule 6, the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (c. 5), section 49 and paragraph 1 of Schedule 9; and S.I. 1999/293.

(2)

S.I. 2015/596; relevant amending instruments are S.I. 2016/332, 2017/391, 571 and 1012, and 2018/119.

(3)

S.I. 2015/595. There are amendments to article 2 but they are not relevant to this Order.

(4)

1979 c. 46, to which there are amendments not relevant to this Order.

(5)

1990 c. 9. Section 1 was amended by the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2016 (anaw 4), sections 26(1)(a) and (b), and the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (c. 24), paragraphs 7 and 8 of Schedule 17.

(6)

OJ L 347 20.12.2013, p.487, as last amended by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No. 2018/162 of 23 November 2017 (OJ No L 30, 2.2.2018, p 6).