Most invasive non-native animals are a private nuisance rather than a legal matter. A small number, though, can trigger formal powers that let an environmental authority direct what a landowner must do about them, or carry out the work itself. These powers come from a 2015 amendment to wildlife law that applies only in England and Wales, and homeowners occasionally encounter them where an infestation involves a listed invasive species rather than an ordinary domestic pest.
Where the power comes from
Section 23 of the Infrastructure Act 2015 inserted a new set of provisions into the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, creating two tools for environmental authorities in England and Wales: species control agreements and species control orders. The framework applies to species that would cause a “significant adverse impact on biodiversity, other environmental interests, or social or economic interests,” and, separately, to certain animals that are historically native to Great Britain but no longer normally present. Only species listed on Schedule 9 to the 1981 Act can be subject to these measures, so the powers cannot be used against ordinary pests such as rats, mice or wasps; they are aimed at species such as certain non-native crayfish, terrapins, coypu-type mammals and similar listed invaders.
Species control agreements come first
Where an environmental authority identifies a Schedule 9 species on someone’s land, the first step is a species control agreement: a voluntary arrangement in which the landowner agrees to specific operations to control or eradicate the species. The legislation requires that the agreement’s provisions be proportionate to the objective being achieved, so an authority cannot demand disproportionate work through this route.
Species control orders when agreement fails
If a landowner refuses to enter an agreement, fails to comply with one already in place, cannot be identified, or the situation is urgent, the authority can move to a species control order. This is a binding instrument: it can require the landowner to act, or authorise the authority itself to enter the land and carry out the control operations, recovering its costs from the owner afterwards. The Act builds in safeguards, including a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal, codes of practice for how authorities should exercise the power, and provision for compensation in some circumstances. Non-compliance carries criminal penalties, including a custodial sentence of up to 51 weeks alongside fines.
Wales operates its own code of practice
The species control agreement and order framework itself is UK Parliament legislation applying across England and Wales, but the Welsh Government has published its own code of practice for how the provisions should be exercised in Wales, sitting alongside the England-specific code produced by Westminster departments and agencies. Anyone contacted about a species control agreement in Wales should expect the process to reference the Welsh code, even though the underlying legal powers are the same statute used in England.
Scotland is not covered by this regime
Scotland did not adopt the Infrastructure Act 2015 species control agreement and order framework. Non-native species law in Scotland instead runs through the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 as amended by the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011, which is a prevention-focused regime. It is an offence in Scotland to release, or allow to escape, a non-native animal outside its native range, or to plant or cause a non-native plant to grow in the wild outside its range, and certain species can only be kept in captivity under licence with a legal duty to report sightings of specified invasive species. Scottish legislation does not include a direct equivalent to the England and Wales species control order power for tackling species that are already established, which means enforcement in Scotland concentrates on stopping new releases rather than compelling landowners to eradicate existing populations through a binding order.
What this means for a homeowner
For the overwhelming majority of domestic pest issues, none of this applies. Species control agreements and orders are used against Schedule 9 species causing wider environmental or economic harm, not against a wasp nest, a mouse problem or garden moles. Where a pest controller or local authority does raise a species control agreement, it will name the specific Schedule 9 species involved and set out proposed control operations, and the proportionality requirement means a landowner can query steps that go beyond what is needed to address that species.
The bottom line
Species control agreements and orders under the Infrastructure Act 2015 are a targeted power for Schedule 9 invasive non-native species in England and Wales, built on a voluntary-agreement-first, binding-order-as-backstop structure with tribunal appeal rights and criminal penalties for non-compliance. Wales applies its own code of practice within the same UK-wide statute. Scotland runs a separate, prevention-focused regime under its own 2011 Act amendments and does not use the same order-making power against established populations. The distinction matters because a landowner’s rights and the authority’s powers differ depending on which side of the border the infestation is on.
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk, “Infrastructure Act 2015, Section 23”
- Welsh Government, “Code of practice for species control provisions in Wales” (gov.wales)
- NatureScot, “Law on non-native species in Scotland” (nature.scot)