Hedgehogs: Conservation

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 20 April 2018.

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Photo of Mark Hendrick Mark Hendrick Labour/Co-operative, Preston

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to (a) designate hedgehogs as a protected species and (b) ensure that planning guidance takes into account the need to preserve hedgehog habitats.

Photo of Therese Coffey Therese Coffey The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Hedgehogs are listed under Schedule 6 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 so are protected from being killed using prohibited methods such as crossbows, traps and snares. We are committed, through the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, to creating or restoring 500,000 hectares of wildlife rich habitat for the benefit of species such as the hedgehog.

To designate hedgehogs as a protected species would require them to be listed under Schedule 5 of the Act. There are no plans to do so as protection of the hedgehogs’ habitat from destruction or disturbance, as defined in the Act, could mean that aspects of garden and land maintenance, or use, would constitute a criminal offence and this may have the unintended consequence of discouraging the creation of hedgehog habitat.

The National Planning Policy Framework sets out the Government’s policy on planning, and states that the planning system should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by minimising impacts on biodiversity, including by establishing coherent ecological networks. The accompanying planning practice guidance (www.gov.uk/guidance/natural-environment) provides further advice on how this should be achieved by local planning authorities. The Government is currently consulting on amendments to the National Planning Policy Framework.

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