Badgers and their setts (where they live) are protected under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. It is an offence to kill or injure them, or to interfere with their setts. A badger survey will be needed if you are applying for planning permission and badgers or their setts could be affected by your project.
More about badgers
Badgers can inhabit both rural and urban locations with setts being found in both greenfield and brownfield sites, along transport corridors and in some unexpected locations. They are often found on the edge of woodlands or within a hedgerow where a combination of food, safety and sloping ground is on offer. As a minimum, a sett will consist of a single entrance hole with a tunnel, but the majority of setts consist of multiple entrance holes and a network of underground tunnels and chambers.
What are badger surveys?
The presence of badgers can often be determined during a Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA) which means you don’t always need a full badger survey. Typically during a PEA, badger signs will be searched for. Signs include: latrines (dung pits), hairs, bedding, pathways, holes (setts), excavations, footprints, scratch marks, snuffle holes (feeding signs). Any setts found will be categorised (as main, annexe, subsidiary or outlying) since badger groups usually have a variety of setts within their territories.
If there are badgers on site or within the immediate adjacent land and you can’t avoid disturbing the badgers or damaging their setts, it is likely that you will need a more detailed survey. Sett monitoring may be required to determine if a sett is active and for some development projects, a more extensive survey looking at bait marking may be required, in order to establish the full extent of their territories.
What happens if badger setts are found?
If surveys confirm badgers are present and works will disturb them or damage or destroy their setts, it will be necessary to obtain a licence from Natural England to allow the works to legally proceed. Appropriate mitigation and exclusion of badgers is normally required before setts can be closed and destroyed. Natural England will only normally licence such works to be undertaken between July and November, outside of the season when badgers could have dependant cubs.
Licensed mitigation could include:
- Closure of setts using 1-way badger gates which are kept in place for at least 21 days from the last day badgers were known to access them
- Maintaining badger foraging areas
- Maintaining connectivity through the use of underpasses or tunnels
- Creating new alternative setts
What Deepdene Ecology can do for you
If you are proposing to undertake any kind of development and aren’t sure if a badger survey is required, Deepdene Ecology will be able to help you out by providing advice and experienced surveyors.
Deepdene Ecology Ltd 