{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wildlife-licence-charges-england-order-2025/article-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wildlife-licence-charges-england-order-2025/article-2.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2025/236",
  "legislation_title": "The Wildlife Licence Charges (England) Order 2025",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wildlife-licence-charges-england-order-2025",
  "path": "article/2",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "Interpretation",
  "text": "(1) In this Order—\n“the 1981 Act” means the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981;\n“the 2017 Regulations” means the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017;\n“the 2018 Order” means the Wildlife Licence Charges (England) Order 2018;\n“application” includes a notification to Natural England under a class licence of a particular site where an applicant intends to carry out licensed activities, and in this context “applicant” means a person intending to rely on the class licence;\n“bats” means all species of—\n(a) horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae);\n(b) typical bats (Vespertilionidae);\n“complex application” means an application for a licence which requires Natural England to spend, prior to its issue, 5 hours or more assessing the impact on conservation of the licensable activities;\n“protected species or habitat” means—\n(a) species protected under—\n(i) Schedule 1, Part 1 of Schedule 2, Schedule 5, Schedule 6 or Schedule 8 to the 1981 Act;\n(ii) the Protection of Badgers Act 1992; or\n(iii) Schedule 2, Schedule 4 or Schedule 5 to the 2017 Regulations;\n(b) species and habitats set out in the biodiversity list published by the Secretary of State in August 2010 under section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006; and\n“simple application” means an application for a licence which requires Natural England to spend, prior to its issue, fewer than 5 hours assessing the impact on conservation of the licensable activities.\n(2) In this Order, the issue of a licence includes—\n(a) renewal or modification of a licence;\n(b) registration under a class licence for the purpose of reliance on that licence;\n(c) authorisation under a licence to carry out licensed activities at a particular site.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "1981 c. 69 (“the 1981 Act”)."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f2",
      "text": "S.I. 2017/1012."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f3",
      "text": "S.I. 2018/771."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f4",
      "text": "See sections 1 and 2 of the 2006 Act for the constitution and general purpose of Natural England."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f5",
      "text": "See for example section 16(5)(b) and (8) of the 1981 Act for the power to issue a licence to persons of a class."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f6",
      "text": "Relevant amending instruments are, in relation to Schedule 2, the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011 (asp 6), section 3; S.I. 1992/310 and S.I. 2020/245; in relation to Schedule 5 the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020, S.I. 1991/367, 1988/288, 1989/906, 1992/2350, 1998/878, 2007/1843, 2008/431, 1927 and 2172; and in relation to Schedule 8, S.I. 1988/288, 1992/2350, 2007/1843 and 2011/2015."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f7",
      "text": "1992 c. 51."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f8",
      "text": "Relevant amending instrument in relation to Schedule 2 is S.I. 2022/858."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f9",
      "text": "The list is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/habitats-and-species-of-principal-importance-in-england. A hard copy of the list is available from Natural England, County Hall, Spetchley Road, Worcester, WR5 2NP."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/236/article/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T21:19:45.754573+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}