Licensing, Mitigation and Monitoring

The MKA Ecology team are very experienced in applying for European protected species licences and for Natural England licences, where these are required as a condition of planning permission for development.

This might arise if a species on your site is affected by your proposals to the extent that, without a licence, an infringement of its legal protection would occur.

Some examples are:

Removal of trees or demolition of buildings containing bat roosts
Destruction of terrestrial habitats of great crested newts
Destruction of badger setts within development footprints
Disturbance of badger setts during the landscaping of private gardens
European protected species licences: from application and method statement to mitigation design, exclusion and post-development monitoring.

Where a licence and planning permission are conditional on adoption of certain mitigation measures, MKA Ecology develop a costed and timed scheme to secure the licence and implement the measures. Where required we work in conjunction with our partners or with your chosen contractors.

Some examples are:

Translocation of amphibians and reptiles to receptor sites
Installation of bat boxes in trees, where roosting opportunities are lost
Installation of nest boxes for birds, where other potential nesting habitat is lost
Construction of hibernacula (overwintering habitat) for displaced amphibians or reptiles
Construction of badger tunnels under the highway
Construction of roadside bunds to raise the flight path of barn owls
Design and overseeing construction of sand martin nesting bank

The effectiveness of mitigation measures may require ongoing monitoring and MKA Ecology‘s team do that for you. This may involve, for example, annual checks for occupation of nest or roost boxes or monitoring of ponds for populations of amphibians.