Bat Mitigation Class Licence BMCL

I am pleased to confirm that I have been granted an Annex B CL21 Bat Mitigation Class Licence (BMCL) from Natural England and am now a registered consultant. This licence allows low impact work on bat roosts in England and one of the key benefits is the site registration timeframes which are much less than the standard application route which can be up to 60 working days or more, the BMCL can therefore help to reduce costs and avoid some of the working time delays associated with individual site licences.
 
The bat ‘low impact’ licence (CL21) is a mitigation class licence. You should consider what impact your actions will have on bats. If you cannot avoid affecting them at a site, you can use this licence:

• to disturb and capture up to 3 ‘common or widespread’ bat species (which are those listed in each annex)
• to damage or destroy up to 3 ‘low conservation status roosts’ (these are: feeding, day, night and transitional roosts).

 
The licence is subject to strict assessment criteria and is only permitted for certain species and roosts of ‘low conservation status’. Surveys must also be undertaken during the optimal period deemed to be from May to August, carried out in accordance with the BCT guidance and are up to date.