Can the new deer strategy bring long-sought clarity for land managers?

After years of anticipation, a landmark plan has finally been unveiled to confront one of the most quietly pressing environmental challenges in England.

On 20 February, Defra and the Forestry Commission (FC) published a long awaited Deer Impacts Policy Statement. It sets out the actions that the government will take in England over the next ten years to manage the impact of growing populations of deer - thought to be at their highest population level in 1,000 years. The UK deer population (comprising six species, only two of which are truly native) is estimated to have increased from 450,000 in the 1970s to two million today.

The forestry sector has been awaiting a policy announcement on this for several years. The CLA responded in 2022 to the Deer Strategy for England consultation and has been calling on Defra to finalise and publish its strategy ever since. The statement on deer comes shortly after a similarly long-awaited policy statement on action to tackle alien invasive grey squirrels.

Deer browsing has a major impact on forestry, reducing final timber crop values by as much as 30-50%. Browsing affects successful establishment of young trees in particular - but it also limits regenerative growth in existing woodlands. Evidence suggests 33% of English woodlands are negatively affected by deer – up from 24% in the early 2000s. All this suppresses the carbon sequestration and biodiversity outcomes achieved from investment in tree planting and nature recovery. The statement sets out these impacts - and others like increases in crop damage and deer-vehicle collisions - and the consequences of failure to tackle the issue.

Steps already taken by the government over the past few years – recruitment of regional Deer Officers by the FC; grants for deer control through Countryside Stewardship; support for the British Wild Venison Working Group – are given for context. The statement then sets out 33 actions to be taken over the next decade. Many of these are inter-related and cover such issues as:

• Funding, support and skills
• Identifying national priority areas for collaborative landscape scale deer control
• Landowner responsibilities
• Improving the evidence base
• Reviewing licensing and regulation
• Support for sustainable wild venison markets

The statement acknowledges that achieving the ambitions of the statement will be a collective effort involving the public, private and third sectors. Along with several other organisations, the CLA is part of the Deer Initiative Partnership, a forum through which deer issues can be discussed between stakeholders and governing bodies.

The statement says that Defra will maintain grant funding for deer control in woodland and agri-environment schemes and will improve these offers if needed. The deer control supplement, made available to woodland owners through Countryside Stewardship (CS) in 2022, proved popular with those woodland owners able to access it. The grant has been retained in the now re-opened CS Higher Tier as the deer control and management action and this continuity and the possibility of improvements shows welcome commitment from Defra. However, entry to the CS Higher Tier (CSHT) scheme is still effectively by ‘invitation only’ with applications only possible after receipt of pre-application advice (with landowners having to wait to be invited to receive this pre-application advice). One obvious improvement would be to make the CSHT scheme more accessible.

The deer statement also stresses the importance of collaboration between land managers to control deer at a landscape scale, support for which will be provided by the FC’s network of Deer Officers (now numbering eight across England). The support of these officers will be crucial in advising landowners on how best to assess and manage deer impacts, access funding and collaborate across landscapes, to maximise the effectiveness of management efforts.

Linked to this, Defra will also ‘seek to ensure that where inaction [on deer] is causing demonstrably negative impacts on publicly funded woodlands, biodiversity and public interests of adjoining land, that those responsible undertake appropriate management’. Together with deer control incentives, this will help to address the issue of collaborative control effort being ‘undone’ by inaction on the part of others.

Working with others, the FC will also identify national priority areas for action on deer control ‘where there is an imbalance between deer impacts and the delivery of wider public benefits, and where focused action is needed. This could include setting targets in priority areas to achieve and maintain densities needed to achieve this balance’. Although deer are widespread, densities are not problematic everywhere so this targeting of resource, informed by local knowledge, will help to maximise effectiveness.

There will also be welcome improvements to the licensing of deer management. A more streamlined approach to licensing will be developed by Natural England to make night shooting and male close season shooting easier, while retaining appropriate controls. This will mean that more licences for night shooting of both sexes can be issued and more efficient licensing will be enabled to control male deer during their close season, where this is needed.

The policy statement also acknowledges the importance of the wild venison market as an under-exploited sustainable food source which could act as a potential outlet for the many carcasses which will result from increased deer control. Actions include continued support for the British Wild Venison Working Group and the British Quality Wild Venison Standard; capital grants for chillers to store and transport venison carcasses (through the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund - which opens soon and closes on 28 April 2026); and ‘commitment to explore domestic and international market opportunities … and ensuring more wild venison can be offered through public procurement networks’.

Growing demand for wild venison will be crucial but ensuring quality and traceability on the supply side are perhaps steps which need to be taken first. Importantly Defra says it will keep its actions under review, to ensure the level of support provided is effective.

Although it was a long time coming, overall, the CLA welcomes the publication of the Deer Impacts Policy Statement. There are lots of much needed actions within it and many long-standing CLA asks are included. The above are a few highlights but there are many other actions listed in the statement. Many of the commitments will help landowners to reduce excessive deer numbers in their areas over the next decade.

Support to collaboratively manage deer numbers will, given time and in combination with support to control pests like grey squirrels, remove key limitations on future timber quality, carbon sequestration and biodiversity. This will markedly increase the effectiveness and success of tree planting and nature recovery investments.

Crucially, the ability to effectively control deer will not only strengthen the ability and motivation of landowners to positively manage their woodlands but it will also improve the case for further woodland creation as a land use worthy of consideration.