BASC responds to announcement on future of general licences

[Debbie BASC]

BASC responds to announcement on future of general licences

May 4, 2019

It has been announced that decision making on general licences in England will be passed from Natural England to the Secretary of State for the Environment ‘for a time’.

It is understood this move will be followed by a call for evidence into the short and long-term future of general licences. Details of the new arrangement are included in an exchange of letters between environment secretary Michael Gove and Natural England chairman Tony Juniper published today.

A covering letter from Defra said: “As part of his new responsibilities, the Secretary of State is now initiating a swift but formal call to evidence, in order to capture information from all concerned parties about the recent withdrawal of the three general licences (GL04, GL05 & GL06).

”In particular it will look at developing a better understanding of the implications for the protection of wild birds, and the impacts on crops, livestock, wildlife, disease, human health and safety and wider nature conservation efforts.

”All relevant evidence gathered from the exercise, alongside information that Defra and Natural England have already received since 25 April, will inform decisions and approach.”

In response, BASC chief executive Ian Bell said: “BASC hopes this is the first step to resolving the current chaos in the countryside.

“This shambles of the last week or so was created by Natural England’s ill-advised decision to withdraw all licences without consultation or notice and, in effect, remove pest control at a critical time of year.

“We hope that this intervention by the environment secretary, Michael Gove, represents that he is getting a grip of this problem and BASC will join the other leading organisations in providing evidence into the review to ensure we end up with a system of general licences that are fit for purpose.”
 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Thanks Debbie.

[matone]

Potential for hope there then .Thanks Debbie.

[wymberley]

I would imagine that it is fair to say that moving any 'pest' species from A to B to C will achieve absolutely nothing with regards to overall crop protection It may well work initially for A, but B and C will then suffer in turn. If you keep the birds on the move for long enough they'll expend excessive energy and in a worst case scenario, simply starve. The only sensible solution is for their numbers to be maintained at an acceptable level. How do you achieve this when with all the lethal  means of crop protection already going on, their numbers are actually increasing? Consequently, unless the known potential percentage of crop loss is going to be deemed acceptable in future, the only sensible option is to carry on as we are in as much as if it is envisaged that future crops will be at risk, then advantage of the opportunity of numbers control whenever presented must be taken which includes roost and stubble shooting.The problem is, of course, is that this is what WJ is against. Someone somewhere is going to have to put their foot down and make a decision and I for one won't be holding my breath

[matone]

Agreed,politicians and civil servants will make decisions which protect their own interests/careers first and foremost.

[lakeside1000]

I see it as just more delaying tactics, we were promised a replacement licence for pigeon control on Monday 29 th April, then we were told that they wanted to get the wording and legals right so it would be a few more days, now its being passed to a completely different group of people who will need to study all the evidence, consider all legal implications, write and re-write  the actual licence before it is released to the public, so it looks like the powers that be are about to prognosticate for a few weeks if not months while hoards of hungry and newly hatched pigeons descend on farmland to ravage unprotected crops, rooks will be happily pulling out seedling plants such as sugar beet and peas to find the grubs under the roots , crows ,magpies and jays will be happily feeding their young  ( the next generation of predators) on most of the unprotected ground nesting birds and song birds eggs and young chicks.

Meanwhile 3200 full time jobs will be left at risk waiting for something to do and watching their future lively hood disintegrating in front of their eyes, 

I put my guns away 2 weeks ago and now just sit and watch as hundreds of acres of pea plants are damaged beyond recovery.

I believe the anti's will win the day and sales of gas guns , flags and rope banger's will increase  , while we watch our critically balanced eco system in the UK disintegrate under the pressure of huge numbers of predatory and destructive birds , progress is a wonderful thing !!!!

[lancer425]

24 minutes ago, wymberley said:

I would imagine that it is fair to say that moving any 'pest' species from A to B to C will achieve absolutely nothing with regards to overall crop protection It may well work initially for A, but B and C will then suffer in turn. If you keep the birds on the move for long enough they'll expend excessive energy and in a worst case scenario, simply starve. The only sensible solution is for their numbers to be maintained at an acceptable level. How do you achieve this when with all the lethal means crop protection already going on, their numbers are actually increasing? Consequently, unless the known potential percentage of crop loss is going to be deemed acceptable in future, the only sensible option is to carry on as we are in as much as if it is envisaged that future crops will be at risk, then advantage of the opportunity of numbers control whenever presented must be taken which includes roost and stubble shooting.The problem is, of course, is that this is what WJ is against. Someone somewhere is going to have to put their foot down and make a decision and I for one won't be holding my breath

Your comments on  controlling numbers are valid these birds pigeons and crows  as you point out  are Increasing in number and are designated green list species and although protected in law by the 1979 bird directive i dont believe this directive was ever expected to be used in the way it has been now in this country, and in fact this highlights the whole EEC /europe Brexit issue, Rules that dont really fit exactly yet we have to obey them anyway and even fudge our laws to work in line with said restrictions.

Time we were on our own working important stuff like this for our selves.

here we  we are today signed up to something that was not really that reinvent here, and we got the GL thing put in to muddle through.

We are not doing as shooters an efficient job as it is there are not enough of us to get numbers down to a sustainable level whilst fitting in with the financial losses agriculture as to stand, we need a simple set of rules given us by government so we can go out and do a job without the nonsense outlined by NE in their GLs.

 We need to stay positive and hope the government come through with a real long term solution to this, and who knows clearing NE of the task might be a step in the right direction here is hoping.

 

Edited May 4, 2019 by lancer425

[Yellow Bear]

8 minutes ago, lakeside1000 said:

I believe the anti's will win the day and sales of gas guns , flags and rope banger's will increase

Which in turn will upset a huge number of people not involved in shooting with what will be a perpetual noise nuisance - then they will be forced to move unfortunately too late for farmers and shooters.

[lakeside1000]

9 minutes ago, lancer425 said:

Your comments on  controlling numbers are valid these birds pigeons and crows  as you point out  are Increasing in number and are designated green list species and although protected in law by the 1978 bird directive i dont believe this directive was ever expected to be used in the way it has been now in this country, and in fact this highlights the whole EEC /europe Brexit issue, Rules that dont really fit exactly yet we have to obey them anyway and even fudge our laws to work in line with said restrictions.

Time we were on our own working important stuff like this for our selves.

here we  we are today signed up to something that was not really that reinvent here, and we got the GL thing put in to muddle through.

We are not doing as shooters an efficient job as it is there are not enough of us to get numbers down to a sustainable level whilst fitting in with the financial losses agriculture as to stand, we need a simple set of rules given us by government so we can go out and do a job without the nonsense outlined by NE in their GLs.

 We need to stay positive and hope the government come through with a real long term solution to this, and who knows clearing NE of the task might be a step in the right direction here is hoping.

 

7 minutes ago, lancer425 said:

 

Only time will tell whether this is a good move or not, as for Brexit you are right that we had to adjust all our laws and controls to fall into line with the euro rulings, which affected many aspects of our lives, but as I have said before its one thing to ask our politicians for Brexit,  but its quite another to expect them to comply with the voting public wishes, more like they do what they like and to hell with the rest of us and our democracy

[lancer425]

5 minutes ago, Yellow Bear said:

Which in turn will upset a huge number of people not involved in shooting with what will be a perpetual noise nuisance - then they will be forced to move unfortunately too late for farmers and shooters.

 

1 minute ago, lakeside1000 said:

Only time will tell whether this is a good move or not, as for Brexit you are right that we had to adjust all our laws and controls to fall into line with the euro rulings, which affected many aspects of our lives, but as I have said before its one thing to ask our politicians for Brexit,  but its quite another to expect them to comply with the voting public wishes, more like they do what they like and to hell with the rest of us and our democracy

You are right and i must say i feel the same way faith in true impartial representation and democracy here as been lacking for some time and this whole thing outlines so much of what is wrong in this  country of ours today, lets hope it gets resolved properly .