This morning, Defra has published an exchange of letters between the new chair of Natural England and Environment Secretary Michael Gove regarding the General License. In short, Mr Gove will take control of General License decision-making for now and he has issued a call for evidence to review how the General License should operate in the future.
We shall clearly engage with this review. But I have two immediate thoughts.
First, any review needs to ensure we end up with a licensing system which is compliant with international law, is open and transparent, whilst being appropriately monitored and enforced. We need a system where licences are only issued when there is no other option, and when non-lethal alternatives have been exhausted. That is how the RSPB has used them effectively for nature conservation and that is what will give everyone confidence.
Second, Natural England's independence from government must be re-established, whilst receiving the funding it most desperately needs. Any review should take into account that Natural England has had its budget halved over the past decade and has been stripped of its communications functions. If this government is serious about restoring England's natural environment then we require an independent agency with the capacity to fulfil its statutory obligations and other commitments.
yes, indeed. The INDEPENDENCE and proper funding of Natural England (and the other nature bodies like SNH) is absolutely vital. They were once called quangos of course (quasi-independent...). It is politically impossible for governments to interfere with the independence of the judiciary, and we should make it equally impossible for them to interfere with the independence of NE and the like too. Protection of nature in England and the other nations appears to have suffered a great deal since the executive started to exert a lot more influence over NE. And the government is so often in the pocket of the economic and industrial lobby which only cares for short-term gains of money. Can we really believe driven grouse shooting wouldn't be licenced or banned by now if the elected governments weren't in thrall to monetary interests? It is appallingly destructive, as any independent person can see (unless their brain has been fried by Lead), so the only explanation for it's continued freedom to destroy is the fools who believe we live by money alone.