My Lords, I shall begin with Amendment 7. As originally drafted, the definition of an “owner” of land in the Bill referred to a person who
is entitled to dispose of the fee simple of the land or a person in possession under a lease. However, it was brought to our attention that this definition does not include owners of “inalienable land”, which is land that cannot be disposed of due to legal restrictions. This would mean that owners of certain land, which may include trustees, would be unable to enter into species control agreements or be made subject to species control orders, even though they may be the only or most appropriate persons with an interest in the land concerned. Amendment 7 resolves this anomaly by extending the definition of an “owner” beyond freeholders and leaseholders to persons who may exercise powers of management or control over the land.
Amendment 8 ensures that the environmental authority provides a clear statement to an owner that it considers that they have complied with all the requirements of a species control agreement. This “Notice of compliance” will provide certainty to an owner that an agreement is no longer in effect. We made a similar amendment on Report in respect of species control orders. On reflection, we now consider that this requirement should also extend to agreements.
Amendments 9 and 11 clarify that should doubt ever arise in a dispute or legal proceedings, the scientific name of a species listed in Parts 1A or 1B of Schedule 9 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is determinative rather than its common name. The wording introduced by these amendments is consistent with that which already appears in the existing Schedule 9 and other schedules to the 1981 Act.
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Amendment 10 adds the Eurasian beaver to the new Part 1B of Schedule 9 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in relation to England. Currently, it is an offence to release the beaver into the wild without a licence as it is a species that is not considered to be “ordinarily resident” in Great Britain. Defra ran a consultation exercise in 2013 on whether to add the beaver to Part 1B of Schedule 9 to the 1981 Act to ensure that licences for their release would continue to be required, should the completion of the trial reintroduction currently under way in Scotland result in the animals remaining in the wild. At that point, they would become “ordinarily resident” and thus would not require a licence to be released.
The majority of respondents supported listing the beaver on Schedule 9 to ensure that the current licensing requirements remained in place. Listing the beaver on that schedule will ensure that licences for their release will continue to be required, while their trial reintroduction is considered. However, listing it in Part 1B of Schedule 9 will ensure that species control provisions cannot be applied to any beaver in the wild where its release has been licensed by Natural England. This, of course, includes the family of beavers on the River Otter in Devon, which are now subject to an approved reintroduction trial.
I know your Lordships are interested in the family of beavers on the River Otter so I will take this opportunity to provide the House with a brief update. Natural England has now issued a licence to the Devon Wildlife Trust permitting the managed release
into the wild of beavers currently resident in the River Otter, on a five-year trial basis. This trial will provide valuable evidence on potential impacts to inform any decisions to allow further releases in the future. This decision is subject to the beavers being confirmed as European beavers, and tested and found to be free of EM. Now that the application is approved, it will be important for Natural England and the Devon Wildlife Trust to ensure that the trial is implemented properly and monitored effectively. Our priority is to ensure humane treatment for the beavers while safeguarding human health.
I turn back to these provisions. Changes that we made in this House on Report will also ensure that where an environmental authority is minded to use these provisions in relation to a beaver in the wild that has not been licensed by Natural England, it must satisfy itself that there is no appropriate alternative way of addressing any adverse impact from that animal before proceeding.