Currently, badger licences are needed to carry out development work or stop the animals causing serious damage, whereby registered users can monitor setts, evict and exclude their inhabitants or destroy the dens outright.

Applications for the current licence can take up to 30 working days to process, however, Natural England’s new licence is expected to take just five.

Despite this administrative streamlining, the new licence will continue to give badgers the same high level of protection as its predecessor.

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Where a licence is needed to enable development, work to exclude badgers can only begin once an artificial sett has been constructed nearby and ‘discovered’ by the animals.

Only specialists with a high level of knowledge and experience can register to act under the licence, with ecological consultants applying on behalf of developers, local authorities and churches.

Licences are only issued between July and November to avoid moving badgers caring for their cubs.

This news marks the latest ecological boost for developers following the launch of a new approach to the conservation of great crested newts in February.