Respond to the Scottish general licences consultation

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July 9, 2026

NatureScot is reviewing the Scotland general licences for the control of pest birds and other wildlife management activities.

A public consultation on the first phase of the review runs until 31 August, with comments invited on the 16 proposed general licences for 2027, and a general survey with broader questions.

Responding to the specific surveys

We encourage you to complete the specific surveys for the general licences you rely on for wildlife management.

Each survey is relatively short, but to complete them you will be asked to validate your email address. In summary, you will be asked if you agree or disagree with:

• the general licence
• the species listed
• the permitted methods
• the general terms and conditions

For some general licences feedback is invited on the addition of other species.

You can find all links to the surveys for each general licence here.

Responding to the general survey

The general survey, with broader questions, is longer and also requires validation your email address to complete your response; this appears midway through the survey.

In summary, you will be asked:

• which of the general licences you have used
• if you think the current approach to general licensing works well
• if you support the principle of general licensing
• if all general licences should include a condition to provide annual returns
• if you think new general licences should be considered for any other purpose, species or legislation

Complete the general survey with broader questions here.

BASC's position

BASC supports the continuation of the general licensing system in Scotland. There are no changes to the species listed in the proposed 2027 general licences.

In our response we will be making detailed recommendations including the addition of species and clearer terms and conditions.

BASC does not support mandatory reporting as a blanket condition for general licences because this would create additional administrative burdens without necessarily producing reliable or meaningful data. We will provide detailed reasoning for this in our response.

BASC practitioners survey

BASC will be launching a survey aimed at people using general licenses in Scotland to help gather evidence for our response. This will be sent to BASC members via email towards the end of July. Keep an eye on your emails from BASC Scotland and the weekly BASC Live newsletter sent to all members and subscribers.

Feel free to contact the BASC Scotland team by emailing scotland@basc.org.uk if you have queries or suggestions on responding to the consultation.