Meetings

The Committee considered further correspondence and agreed to close the petition in light of the changes made to Natural Resources Wales’s General Licences, including the removal of red and amber listed species, and the wider Wild Bird Licensing Review being carried out in 2020.

The Committee considered further correspondence and agreed to:

·         note Natural Resources Wales’s intention to conduct a review of all wild bird licensing during 2020;

·         write to Natural Resources Wales to encourage them to consider the importance of biodiversity as part of that review; and

·         highlight the petition to the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee and suggest that issues relating to biodiversity and balancing competing issues within Natural Resources Wales’s remit are raised in a future evidence session with the organisation

The Committee considered correspondence from Natural Resources Wales and agreed to:

·         await further views or information from the petitioner before deciding whether to take any further action on the petition; and

·         seek further information on the number of licences issued by Natural Resources Wales which would allow the killing of species categorised as Red and Amber on the RSPB’s lists.

The Committee considered the petition for the first time and agreed to write to Natural Resources Wales to seek its views in response to the issues raised by the petition.