Understand how wildlife law affects your business

Wildlife law protects species and their homes whether or not you know they are there. Any business whose work disturbs land, buildings, trees, hedges or water can break it, from a builder converting a loft that holds a bat roost to a farmer cutting a hedge with a nest in it.

The three main laws

Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

This protects all wild birds and a list of other animals and plants. It is an offence to intentionally kill, injure or take a wild bird, to damage or destroy a nest while it is in use or being built, or to take or destroy an egg. For the animals on its Schedule 5, it is also an offence to intentionally or recklessly damage or destroy a place they use for shelter or protection, to disturb them there, or to block access to it. It is an offence to intentionally pick, uproot or destroy a plant on Schedule 8. Some birds, such as barn owls, have extra protection against disturbance while nesting.

Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017

These give the highest protection to European protected species, which include all bats, great crested newts, hazel dormice, otters and natterjack toads. It is an offence to deliberately capture, injure or kill one, to deliberately disturb it, and to damage or destroy a breeding site or resting place. For that last offence you do not need to have meant any harm, though the court takes into account whether you could reasonably have avoided it. Disturbance includes anything likely to affect the animals' ability to survive, breed or rear their young.

Protection of Badgers Act 1992

This protects badgers and their setts. It is an offence to intentionally or recklessly damage or destroy a sett, block access to it or disturb a badger in it.

When your work is likely to trigger the law

The risk is highest when you:

• renovate, convert or demolish a building, repair or replace a roof, or insulate or convert a loft;
• cut down or trim trees, hedges and rough vegetation, or clear a site;
• work in or near a pond, ditch, watercourse or woodland;
• add lighting, noise or vibration near a roost, nest or sett.

Avoid harm first and use a licence last

Commission a survey from a qualified ecologist if protected species could be on or near your site, and plan the work to avoid them by changing where or when you work. If the survey finds none, you can carry on.

For protected animals and plants other than wild birds, you can apply to Natural England for a licence when harm cannot be avoided. Since changes made by the Environment Act 2021, that includes animals and plants on Schedules 5 and 8 of the 1981 Act as well as European protected species and badgers.

Natural England can grant a licence only for an allowed purpose, such as imperative reasons of overriding public interest, and only if there is no satisfactory alternative and the work will not harm the species' conservation status. Get planning permission first if you need it, because planning permission does not itself permit harm to a protected species and licences are decided separately.

Protected sites and public bodies

Separate rules protect sites such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and European sites, and your planning authority can refuse permission for development that would damage them or harm protected species. Public authorities in England must also consider what they can do to conserve and enhance biodiversity, which shapes the planning decisions you apply for.