and above the mileage at cost
- travel time as part of the hourly rate
You may also need to pay if your request form is incomplete. Natural England will return the form and request the missing information.
How to apply
Fill in the consent advice request form for the standard advice service.
Email your completed form to: email@example.com.
Read Natural England’s.
Pay for fast-track advice
You’ll pay £500 for help to draft a notice for a straightforward case and get a response within 28 working days.
You’ll pay £110 per hour for a more complex case. You can specify when you need your response by.
How to apply
Fill in the fast-track consent advice request form for the fast-track advice service.
Email your completed form to: firstname.lastname@example.org.
Read Natural England’s.
Pay for the quick check service
You can use Natural England’s quick check service to make sure your draft proposal contains all the information required before you submit your consent notice. You’ll pay £200 for this service. You’ll get a response within 28 working days. This service is not suitable for complex cases.
This service does not give you consent to carry out operations on your SSSI land. You must serve a statutory notice on Natural England, before it can give consent. Find out how to get Natural England’s consent.
How to apply
If you use the quick check service, fill in both forms on the quick check service page.
Email your completed forms to: email@example.com.
Read Natural England’s.
Get consent to carry out operations on your land
You must get permission to carry out:
- ORNEC on your site
- other activities that may damage the SSSI, such as an event or surveying - including those carried out by a third party
Discuss your proposal with Natural England.
If you apply to the Forestry Commission for a felling licence within a SSSI, you’ll need Natural England’s consent. This is for operations not described in the licence, such as where vehicles cross the SSSI to get to the felling location.
Read the guidance on how to get Natural England’s consent for work in SSSIs.
- complete the supplementary notice of operations in an SSSI form and send it to the relevant Forestry Commission administrative hub, which will seek Natural England’s consent for you
- apply online for your felling licence
What to include when you request consent
Include the following details in your proposal:
- the name of the SSSI
- your name and address
- a description of what you intend to do and how
- the approximate start and end dates for the operation or activity
- the location of the proposed operation or activity(send a map with notes if you can)
You should include as much relevant information with your proposal, such as:
- what vehicles will need access to the site, the routes they’ll take and ground pressure they’ll exert (particularly across fens and bogs)
- how you’ll remove any spoil from the site
- the origin and chemical nature of materials you’ll bring onto the site
Natural England may contact you if it needs:
- more details about your request
- to clarify any issues about your request
Decisions on consent applications
Natural England aims to make consent decisions within 28 working days, but can take up to 4 calendar months, if necessary.
For eligible applications, you’ll get one of the following decisions once Natural England has assessed your application:
- consent granted without conditions (for example for operations that are necessary for achieving favourable condition)
- consent granted with conditions, such as requiring you to carry out operations in a certain way or at a certain time to avoid damage
- consent refused for any operations that would damage notified features
Withdrawal or modified consent
Natural England can withdraw or modify an existing consent if new surveys on the site show it’s declining from operations previously given consent. This is usually for exceptional cases only.
How Natural England makes a decision
Natural England decides whether to grant consent by assessing the scale and intensity of the proposed operation on the site’s n