Bats: mitigation class licence to allow low impact work on bat roosts (CL21)
Register as an ecological consultant to disturb or capture common bats, or damage or destroy low conservation status roosts; find out how to register a site and if you need to pay.
- From:
- Natural England
PublishedPublished:- 6 April 2017
- Last
updatedupdated: 1430MayJuly20242026 — See all updates
Applies to England
Documents
Guide to using bat mitigation class licence CL21: registration criteria, how to apply and if you need to pay
HTML
Annex A: application form
PDF, 2.2 MB, 1 page
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Annex B: application form
PDF, 2.39 MB, 1 page
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Annex C or Annex D: application form - use for either annex
PDF, 1.7 MB, 1 page
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Details
ThereNatural areEngland nois plannedphasing trainingout workshopsthe CL21 licence. This means we are not accepting applications to become a registered consultant. NaturalExisting Englandregistered consultants will not be able to register new sites after 14 December 2026.
The CL21 is reviewingbeing thisclosed licenceas we transition to the CL47 Bat Earned Recognition Licence. Bat earned recognition covers more bat species and willroosts thenthan decideCL21 whetherat all accreditation levels and provides greater flexibility both before and after a site is registered.
To ensure continuity, existing CL21 registered consultants have been contacted and offered a streamlined route to runbecome futureaccredited workshopson bat earned recognition.
If you are not a registered CL21 consultant, you can still apply for thebat earned recognition if you meet the application criteria.
CL21 licence.licence
The bat ‘low impact’ licence (CL21) is a mitigation class licence that allows a registered ecological consultant to interfere with certain bats and their roosts. There are 4 annexes to this licence that specify:
- which species and roost type you can interfere with
- areas in England where you can carry out work
Use the guide to find out:
- the criteria you must meet to become a registered consultant
- what the licence allows you to do
- which licence annex is right for you
- if you’ll need to pay to register a site on your licence
- how to apply and which form to use
- how to download and fill in the forms
Use the relevant application form for the annex you choose.
Details
ThereNatural areEngland nois plannedphasing trainingout workshopsthe CL21 licence. This means we are not accepting applications to become a registered consultant. NaturalExisting Englandregistered consultants will not be able to register new sites after 14 December 2026.
The CL21 is reviewingbeing thisclosed licenceas we transition to the CL47 Bat Earned Recognition Licence. Bat earned recognition covers more bat species and willroosts thenthan decideCL21 whetherat all accreditation levels and provides greater flexibility both before and after a site is registered.
To ensure continuity, existing CL21 registered consultants have been contacted and offered a streamlined route to runbecome futureaccredited workshopson bat earned recognition.
If you are not a registered CL21 consultant, you can still apply for thebat earned recognition if you meet the application criteria.
CL21 licence.licence
The bat ‘low impact’ licence (CL21) is a mitigation class licence that allows a registered ecological consultant to interfere with certain bats and their roosts. There are 4 annexes to this licence that specify:
- which species and roost type you can interfere with
- areas in England where you can carry out work
Use the guide to find out:
- the criteria you must meet to become a registered consultant
- what the licence allows you to do
- which licence annex is right for you
- if you’ll need to pay to register a site on your licence
- how to apply and which form to use
- how to download and fill in the forms
Use the relevant application form for the annex you choose.
Updates to this page
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Update history
2026-07-30 10:37
Added new information on how Natural England is phasing out the CL21 licence. The CL21 is being closed as we transition to the CL47 Bat Earned Recognition Licence.
2024-05-14 14:24
Updated the availability of training workshops for the CL21 licence. There are no planned training workshops.
2023-01-01 00:15
Added new information about when you do not need to pay for this licence.