Lawyers today filed a claim for a Judicial Review after “Defra decision makers rode roughshod” over rural community.
GL43
Speaking at debate in the House of Commons, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown has heavily criticised Defra over it’s handling of gamebird release licences in protected areas.
BASC chief executive Ian Bell has told the Daily Telegraph of the crisis unfolding across the English countryside.
BASC has warned Defra that shooting businesses are facing financial ruin, criminal charges or both, unless it urgently reinstates a licence for the release of gamebirds in protected areas of England.
The BBC’s Farming Today programme has covered the consequences of Defra’s changes to the general licence for gamebird release in protected areas (known as GL43).
BASC is a joint signatory on a letter from Aim to Sustain to the Secretary of State regarding the ban on gamebird releasing in parts of England.
BASC has announced today a decision to prepare legal proceedings against Defra over its withdrawal of GL43.
Defra has critically underestimated the number of shoots which will be impacted by its decision to restrict gamebird release in areas of England.
Defra has reissued GL43 for Special Areas of Conservation, but release in Special Protection Areas will still require an individual licence.
Read our update and response to the removal of GL43 by Defra, which covers the release of gamebirds on or within 500m of protected sites.
