BASC calls for urgent ministerial action on gamebird release licensing

BASC has called on Environment Secretary Steve Reed MP to intervene in Natural England’s handling of individual gamebird release licences. 

BASC has written to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP, urging immediate ministerial intervention over Natural England’s handling of individual licence applications for gamebird release. The letter highlights a system that has become “obstructive, economically damaging, and ecologically incoherent.”

Natural England’s refusal to issue General Licence 45 due to avian influenza concerns has led to an uncertain and restrictive approach to individual licences, with many applications facing blanket refusal. BASC has criticised the lack of transparency, noting that Natural England “refused to provide applicants with essential data” necessary for their applications, likening it to “playing a game where the rules change and only the referee knows what they are.”

Click here to read the letter in full.