Brockwatch

To reduce the effects of road building and other developments on badgers, we have been involved in a number of activities:

Providing information

Local authorities, utility companies, developers and their agents often request information about badgers when they are drawing up their plans. We provide reports based on our badger survey database, so that steps can be taken to protect badgers when plans are drawn up. We also get to know in advance about proposals for developments which might affect badgers.

Commenting on development plans

Planning authorities often approach us for comments on planning applications which may affect badgers. This provides us with an opportunity to highlight any problems which those applications might cause for badgers. In some cases we may object to a planning application if it is clear that badgers will be adversely affected by the proposals. However it is rare for a development to be turned down because badgers are present.

Working with developers

In the past we have worked with the Highways Agency on the Brackley bypass. As a result, a very successful badger tunnel was installed when the road was built. In 2005 we repaired gaps in the wire mesh which was allowing badgers to get onto the road.

We have also acted on behalf of developers on several occasions, where developments have required the destruction of badger setts. We do not enjoy having to evict badgers from their homes, but where it is clear that this is inevitable, we would rather carry out the work ourselves so that we can be sure that the job is done properly, with no harm coming to the badgers. In the case of one quarry development, our work included the construction of an artificial badger sett, before the badgers were excluded from their own sett.

All of our badger exclusion / sett destruction operations have been carried out under licence from English Nature (now Natural England), the statutory nature conservation agency for England.