Species in UK Law

Mr Jarman accepts that an application for this licence could have been appropriately addressed to the Countryside Council for Wales under regulation 44(2)(c). What then would have been material considerations for the Council? The claimants would be seeking a licence to conserve a protected species because, in light of the planning permission, it is likely the species would otherwise be harmed.

For another species, this test was proved; to prohibit its shooting in spring on the grounds that it would be a satisfactory solution to shoot another species in spring or autumn would render the derogation at least partially nugatory since, even if the permitted level of spring hunting met the other requirements of the particular derogation, hunting that species would still be prohibited.

These cases illustrate that it is for the state which seeks to rely on the derogation to show that the requirements of the Directive are met in its application; by analogy, where an individual seeks to rely on derogation, it is for him to make out the case.

Article 6(3) provides that any plan or project not directly connected with or necessary to the management of an SPA but likely to have a significant effect on it shall be subject to appropriate assessment of its implications for the site in view of the site's conservation objectives; and in the light of the conclusions of the assessment, the competent national authorities shall agree to the plan or project only after having ascertained that it will not adversely affect the integrity of the site and, if appropriate, after having obtained the opinion of the general public.

For all these reasons, I am satisfied that there is no legal requirement that a screening assessment under Regulation 48(1) must be carried out in the absence of any mitigation measures that form part of a plan or project. On the contrary, the competent authority is required to consider whether the project, as a whole, including such measures, if they are part of the project, is likely to have a significant effect on the SPA.

The River Ribble rises in Yorkshire and flows into the Irish Sea between Lytham St Annes and Southport. The River Alt rises in Huyton and flows into the Irish Sea at the edge of the Mersey Estuary. Part of the Ribble Estuary was identified as a National Nature Reserve in 1979 and notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in 1984. It was classified as special protection area under Council Directive 79/409/EEC in 1982.

I am satisfied that the loss of foraging habitat occasioned by cutting a swathe through the vegetation does not offend Article 12(1)(b) which is concerned with protection of the species not with conservation of the species' natural habitats. There is therefore no evidence of any activity which would as a matter of law constitute a disturbance as the word has to understood.