The new GCN licence application forms (including the eagerly awaited Mitigation Method Statement spreadsheet) are all now available for download from the Natural England website.

There are several items of interest. As county recorder for reptiles and amphibians, one item that I was particularly pleased by was the following statement:

"Undertaking to submit formal record of population as it stands in the final scheme layout: Note to be sent to Local Records Centre, County Recorder, national recording scheme (where they exist) and to the relevant contact at the LPA. To be done before completion of development, or within 1 year of grant of licence (whichever is sooner). To include site name, OS grid ref and brief summary of survey and capture data."

As a condition of their licence, consultants are now *required* to comply with this statement and submit records to the local recorder/records centre. This should help us to keep track of work undertaken across the county.