HL Deb 27 October 1992 vol 539 cc100-2WA
Lord Gainford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they intend to change the law and introduce a general licensing system for pest bird control which fully meets the needs of farmers, landowners and other authorities and satisfies the requirements of the European Council Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (Lord Strathclyde)

My honourable friend the Minister of State for the Environment and Countryside has announced today proposals to amend the law relating to the killing or taking of "pest" species of birds such as crows, starlings and pigeons, and to introduce a licensing system for pest control.

At present, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 enables farmers, landowners and local authorities and other authorised persons to carry out year-round control of 13 species of bird which cause agricultural damage or which endanger public health or air safety. But the European Commission does not consider that the 1981 Act fully complies with the EC Birds Directive which requires member states to protect all wild birds.

A consultation paper issued today by the Department of the Environment contains proposals to remove all 13 species from the list in Part II of Schedule 2, and to move to a system of annual general licences to permit their control. These proposals would meet the requirement of the directive while enabling pest control to continue unchanged.

Farmers and landowners must be able to continue unhindered with their existing programmes of pest control which have served the country well for a long time. We believe we have found a non-bureaucratic solution that would not create the burdensome problems that caused us to withdraw proposals for a licensing scheme in 1990, and puts beyond doubt that the Government are meeting their obligations under the directive.

Only a handful of annual licences would be needed, covering broad geographical areas, one or more species and specifying in general terms the nature of the damage caused. No one would have to apply for a licence, justify control or account for numbers of birds killed or taken. Everyone involved in the year-round control of pest birds would be able to carry on with their traditional practices exactly as they do now.

Licences would be considered for renewal each year following advice from the Government's statutory scientific advisers, the joint nature conservation committee, who would monitor the status of the species and alert the Department of the Environment if populations of any fell to levels where care was needed to maintain a satisfactory conservation status. At the moment, populations of the species are stable or increasing, and we do not think that pest control would have any detrimental effect on population levels in the foreseeable future.