Scottish General Licences remain unchanged until April 2020

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has confirmed that the expected changes to three general licences in Scotland will now not be made until 1 April 2020. The original proposed date for the changes to be implemented was 1 January 2020. This means that general licence users will be able to continue for an additional three months and avoids the potential of short notice changes to the terms of these licences.

“SNH are to be applauded for taking time to analyse the 700 responses to their consultation as well as fully consider the detailed results from the recent BASC survey that included more than 1,000 individual responses”, said Dr Colin Shedden, BASC Director Scotland.

“While it is clear that there will be some changes to the conditions of these licences, including changes to the species listings, it is sensible not to rush these decisions. With the new date being in the middle of the lambing and bird breeding season, clear and timely communication by SNH is imperative. 

“BASC Scotland looks forward to further discussions with SNH in the New Year on the detail of proposed changes and how bes