The ‘District Level Licensing’ scheme will create and
restore a network of ponds, providing vital habitat across
the 2 counties and adding to the characterful wooded
countryside of the Suffolk coast and heaths, the wide
wetland habitats of the Norfolk broads and beyond.
The scheme works by taking payments from housing and other
developers and investing them in 4 times the number of
ponds that were impacted by their construction projects.
In the past, landowners or housing developers in Norfolk
and Suffolk had to apply for a licence before building on
or around the places where newts live. Seasonal
restrictions led to delays and uncertainty over the costs
and scheduling of planned development.
Now, a ‘landscape-scale’ approach to licensing means that
developers can make a simple, straightforward application
and payment to join their local, area-wide scheme.
The one-off payment covers the creation, restoration,
maintenance and monitoring of ponds in the area for 25
years, in locations specially selected to provide the best
habitat for great crested newts. The award-winning,
evidence-based scheme will help support and link up local
populations of this yellow-bellied amphibian.
The initiative is timely, contributing to the government’s
plans to ‘Build Back Greener’ and fuel the UK’s economic
recovery, in turn providing social and economic benefits
for local communities.
Martin Horlock, Environment Manager, Norfolk County
Council, said:
District Level Licencing provides us with a useful tool
to help conserve this species, which is threatened
throughout its European range. Developers using this
approach will bring about lots of high-value, secure
ponds for newts which are well managed and monitored for
the long term. The scheme offers developers certainty in
terms of costs and timescales, and it means developments
that have been through planning will not be held up by
protracted post-planning licensing.
Hannah Thacker, Natural England Area Manager for Norfolk
and Suffolk, said:
This initiative is a fantastic example of how working in
partnership at a landscape scale can provide benefits for
our largest species of newt, our local communities and
other wildlife, as well as reducing the burden for
developers – a true win-win.
Norfolk and Suffolk are the latest areas to launch a
district level licensing scheme, joining 77 others
including Kent, Cheshire, Essex, Shropshire and Greater
Manchester. Natural England is working to expand the
initiative to 150 local authorities across the country, as
part of a programme funded by the Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government.
