Freedom of Information Request - Licences under the Protection of Badgers Act
Date: 30 September 2025
Our ref: SIR181566/A5478591
Information Request – Licences under the Protection of Badgers Act
Your Request
Q1:
According to your website - "NatureScot is responsible for issuing licences under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 (as amended) for the purpose of development. Licences can only permit someone to ‘interfere’ with a badger sett for the purpose of development. A licence cannot permit the removal, translocation or killing of badgers for the purpose of development."
Please can you tell me how many licences (including 'Badger Ecologist' licences) you have issued concerning badgers in the IV3 postcode area, in the last 10 years, 5 years and 1 year.
Q2:
The licence application form "is for anyone who wishes to carry out works (private or commercial), that are within 30 metres of a badger sett (or 100m for pile driving or blasting) and that will cause disturbance and/or where a badger sett will be obstructed, damaged or destroyed for the purpose of development."
Our Response
Please can you tell me how many licences (including 'Badger Ecologist' licences) you have issued concerning badgers in the IV3 postcode area, in the last 10 years, 5 years and 1 year?
Badger licences issued in IV3 Postcode Area
2017 = 1
2018 = 2
2019 = 1 (Badger ecologist licence site added in IV3)
2023 = 1 (Badger ecologist licence site added in IV3)
To summarise, in the past 10 years (2015 – 2025), we have issued 3 badger licences, in addition 2 badger ecologist licences have had a site listed in the IV3 post code.
In the past 5 years (2020 – 2025) there has been 1 badger ecologist licence with a site listed in the IV3 post code.
In the past year (2024 – 2025), there have been 0 badger licences (or badger ecologist licence sites) issued for the IV3 post code.
Please be aware that badger ecologist licences were only made available since 2017.
Response to Questions
Q1:
"According to your website - "NatureScot is responsible for issuing licences under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 (as amended) for the purpose of development. Licences can only permit someone to ‘interfere’ with a badger sett for the purpose of development. A licence cannot permit the removal, translocation or killing of badgers for the purpose of development."
&
Q2:
The licence application form "is for anyone who wishes to carry out works (private or commercial), that are within 30 metres of a badger sett (or 100m for pile driving or blasting) and that will cause disturbance and / or where a badger sett will be obstructed, damaged or destroyed for the purpose of development."
Please clarify what the permit allows as the 2 statements in bold appear to be contradictory to me."
The simplest explanation to this is that the first quote pulled from our website relates to badgers themselves, whereas the second quote pulled from the application form relates to badger setts (their homes rather than the animal).
The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 (Scottish Version as amended) does allow licensing to interfere with (obstruct, damage or destroy) a badger sett for the purposes of development, but does not allow licensing for the removal, translocation or killing of badger for this purpose.
The actual wording of the legislation is: “A licence may be granted to any person by the appropriate authority; authorising him, notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this Act, but subject to compliance with any conditions specified in the licence – For the purpose of development as defined in section 55(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 or, as respects Scotland, section 26(1) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, to interfere with a badger sett within an area specified in the licence by any means so specified.”
Before we issue any badger licence for the purpose of development, we must check that appropriate planning permissions / building warrants etc., are in place, that an ecologist has carried out a recent badger survey of the site, and appropriate mitigation and compensation measures are in place and written up in a Species Protection Plan to minimise any impacts of the development on the badgers. Where a licence is approved to obstruct or destroy a badger sett, the licence conditions will ensure that an ecologist has excluded any badgers from the sett (either temporarily or permanently dependent on the works proposed) and that there are alternative setts in the vicinity that can be used by any excluded badger, prior to any works commencing. This ensures no badgers are harmed or killed during the works – only the sett is affected.
How We Handled Your Request
We believe you have asked for environmental information as defined in the Environmental Information (Scotland Regulations 2004 (‘the EIRs’), so we are dealing with your request under those regulations. To be able to use the EIRs, we must apply an exemption under section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (‘FOISA’). The Scottish Information Commissioner’s guidance recommends that public authorities apply this exemption to environmental information and handle request under the EIRs.
If you would like to find out more about the access to information legislation, there is a guidance booklet available on the Scottish Information Commissioner’s website.
Review and Appeal
I hope this information meets your requirements, but if you are dissatisfied with how we have responded to your information request, please write to us within 40 working days explaining your concerns. You can contact us at Battleby, Redgorton, Perth, PH1 3EW or email us at [email protected]. We will carry out a review of our response and contact you with our findings within 20 working days.
If you are not satisfied following this, you can make an appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner within 6 months. The Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
Telephone: 01334 464610
Yours sincerely
FOI Officer,
NatureScot
