March 2026

New approach to bat licensing to be explored

Natural England has announced how it is modernising the bat licensing system under its ‘Smarter Planning and Licensing Systems: Delivering Better Results for Bats and People’ programme. This is to be delivered as part of “Natural England’s new Strategy, which signals a shift away from isolated interventions towards nature recovery occurring at a larger scale. It emphasises that we will achieve more by trusting others to deliver for nature and by placing greater focus on outcomes rather than processes. As part of our new strategy, we are refocussing our approach to the planning and licensing systems to improve outcomes for nature and people and reduce administrative burdens. To support resilient bat populations, we need to think at the scale of whole landscapes and focus our efforts where they will have the greatest impact.”

In recent years, ecologists have become familiar with District Licensing schemes, which allow a landscape-scale approach to the conservation of great crested newts in place of the standard site-based licensing regime. While mirroring this approach may not be appropriate for the very different ecology of bats, it does pave the way for a more open-minded approach by Natural England to bat conservation, by illustrating that favourable conservation status can be achieved through alternative approaches.

In this regard, Natural England will now investigate how a landscape-focused approach can be utilised to deliver more effective bat conservation.

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