Another licensing blow for shoots on or near SPAs

Salisbury Plain Special Protection Area (SPA) is among dozens of SPAs where shoots will be “highly unlikely” to receive an individual licence from Natural England to release game birds in 2025.
This news comes in the wake of the announcement that GL45, the general licence which, in 2024, regulated gamebird release on or within 500m of the Salisbury Plain SPA and 84 other SPAs, has been withheld by Defra for 2025.
Natural England stated that the reason for withholding GL45 was due to the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) risk level. Instead of GL45, shoots wishing to release gamebirds on or within 500m of a SPA will be required to apply to Natural England for an individual licence.
Ahead of 22 April, when Natural England will open individual licence applications, it has published a bulletin providing advance notice of the likelihood of licence application success for shoots based on location.
The bulletin splits SPAs into three groups. The first group consists of SPAs where applications are likely to be successful with standard mitigation methods – this group features only one SPA: Falmouth Bay to St Austell Bay.
The second group, which features 17 SPAs, consists of those where applications are likely to be successful if releases are delayed until 1 September or 1 October.
The third group is for SPAs on which “gamebird release is highly unlikely to be permitted for the coming season unless there are exceptional circumstances that could reduce or avoid the risk of HPAI transmission”.
Shooting campaign manager for the Countryside Alliance, Roger Seddon, said: “After several years of licensing tumult, this is the latest blow to shoots in or near SPAs. Natural England’s approach is putting jobs, livelihoods, and family homes at great risk.”