Who can hold a bat mitigation licence and what it allows

A bat mitigation licence is issued by Natural England under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, and it is granted to the person or company carrying out the works, with a suitably experienced ecologist named on it as the person responsible for supervising the method. So the answer to who can apply is usually the developer or landowner. The answer to who makes it possible is the ecologist, because Natural England will not accept a licence application from someone without a competent named person behind it.

That distinction matters on a self-build. You hold the licence and the liability. The ecologist holds the competence.

Why a licence is needed before works start

All bat species in the United Kingdom are European protected species. Under the 2017 Regulations it is an offence to deliberately capture, injure or kill a bat, to deliberately disturb bats in a way that affects their ability to survive, breed or rear young, and to damage or destroy a breeding site or resting place. The last of those has no requirement of intent and no seasonal limit. A roost is protected whether or not a bat is in it in January.

Bats are also protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which adds an offence of obstructing access to a roost.

The consequence for a loft conversion, a barn conversion or a re-roofing job is that if bats are using the building, the works cannot proceed lawfully without a licence. Planning permission does not authorise an offence. Councils are required to consider protected species before granting permission, which is why a bat survey is so often demanded at validation.

Who Natural England will accept as licence holder

Natural England grants a licence to an applicant who can deliver the mitigation. In practice the applicant is one of three parties: the landowner, the developer, or the main contractor. The application must name an ecologist who will supervise the work, and that ecologist has to demonstrate relevant experience: the survey work behind the application, previous licensed work of a similar type, and current survey class licences for bats.

The named ecologist is not a formality. If they leave the project, the licence has to be varied before works continue. Fix that in the appointment: who is named, what happens if they are unavailable, and who covers supervision visits.

Do not expect to hold a licence without an ecologist. And do not expect an ecologist to name themselves on a method they did not design or survey for, because their professional standing rests on it.

Class licences and bespoke licences

There are two routes and they suit different sites.

A bespoke European protected species mitigation licence is a full application to Natural England, assessed against three tests. The works must be for a purpose that satisfies the imperative reasons of overriding public interest test, or the public health and safety test. There must be no satisfactory alternative. And the action must not be detrimental to the maintenance of the population of the species at favourable conservation status. Natural England publishes a target determination period, and applications with weak survey evidence are returned rather than refused, which costs more time than a refusal would.

A class licence, registered by an ecologist who has been approved by Natural England as a registered consultant, covers low impact sites: small numbers of common species, small roost types, no maternity roosts of rarer species. Registration is much quicker than a bespoke application because the ecologist takes on the assessment. Not every ecologist is registered, so ask before appointing.

The choice is not yours to make. It follows from the survey findings, and an ecologist who promises a class licence before surveying is guessing.

What the licence covers and what it does not

The licence authorises specified acts by specified people at a specified site for a specified period. Read what is on it.

It covers the works described in the method statement, the exclusion or capture of bats by the named ecologist and their assistants, and the destruction of the identified roost. It requires the mitigation and compensation set out in the method statement to be delivered, which normally means bat boxes, access points, a replacement roost void or a lofted space built to a specification, plus lighting controls.

It does not authorise anything outside the described works. Extending the scope mid-build, changing the roof covering or altering the position of a replacement roost needs a licence variation. It does not remove the need for planning permission, listed building consent or a party wall notice. And it does not last indefinitely, so a stalled site can find its licence has expired.

Post-works monitoring is often a licence condition, running for one to five years depending on the roost. That is a cost and an obligation, and it belongs in the development appraisal rather than in a surprise invoice.

Timescales to build into the programme

The critical path is survey seasonality, not paperwork. A preliminary roost assessment of a building can be done at any time of year. Emergence and re-entry surveys, which are what confirm whether a roost is present and how it is used, are carried out between May and September, with the middle of that window preferred and repeat visits required.

If a preliminary assessment in October finds bat roost potential, the confirmatory surveys cannot start until the following May. That is the delay that catches self-builders, and it is the reason to commission the bat survey at the very start of a project rather than after the council asks.

After surveys conclude, allow time to design mitigation, prepare the method statement, apply and wait for determination. A class licence registration is faster. Neither is instant.

Where a site may hold other protected species, the surveys have their own seasons, and a protected species survey should be scoped to cover them together. Great crested newts, reptiles and nesting birds each impose different windows.

Questions to ask an ecologist before appointing

Ask five things and the answers will tell you what you need to know.

Which bat survey class licences do you currently hold, and are you a registered consultant for the low impact class licence? What did your preliminary roost assessment find, and what does it commit us to? Which licence route do you expect, and what would change that view? Who will be named on the licence, and who covers if you are unavailable? What monitoring will the licence require after completion, and for how long?

Get the answers in writing with the fee proposal. A quote that omits monitoring or assumes a class licence before survey is not comparable with one that does not.

The professional review route on PlanScope's directory exists so that a draft document can be checked and signed off by a suitably qualified reviewer. For protected species work that review is not optional in any practical sense: a licensed ecologist is legally required, and an AI-assisted draft is a starting point for that person rather than a substitute for them.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. For specialist technical reports, qualified professional input may be required. This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.