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Water Voles are protected
under UK legislation which makes it an
offence to intentionally or recklessly
damage, destroy or obstruct access to
any structure or place which Water Voles
use for shelter or protection. It is all
an offence to disturb Water Voles in such
a place.
At Keystone we employ Water Vole specialists
to advise our clients on the complexities
of the law and the resulting constraints
for any given scheme. Non-compliance with
the law can lead to prosecution and a
jail sentence of up to 2 years and/or
a fine of up to £5000.
Survey and Assessment
Our surveyors work to accepted survey
methodologies to establish presence/absence
of Water Voles on waterways and to map
their density and distribution where found.
We undertake surveys for a wide variety
of development, conservation and research
schemes.
Licence
Applications
Licenses are not required for the intentional
destruction of Water Vole burrows for
development or maintenance. However, for
works likely to impact upon Water Voles
approval of a method statement for works
and mitigation must be sought from statutory
consultees.
Our close relationship with statutory
consultees together with our experience
of developing accepted mitigation schemes
ensures our method statements will be
approved.
Impact Assessment
Impact assessment is required at various
scales and is fundamental to the design
of a successful mitigation strategy. We
have undertaken impact assessments for
Water Voles that range from concise reports
for small scale planning applications
to the ecology section of an ES for large
scale projects.
Mitigation
Any mitigation planned should seek to
retain Water Vole populations on site
and we work closely with out clients'
design teams to achieve this objective.
As a last resort our staff have the necessary
expertise to identify and design suitable
receptor sites and devise translocation
strategies.
Our expertise covers:
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