Oxfordshire Badger Trust has claimed that developers in Botley have shut a badger sett a year early and before wildlife conditions were signed off. Stopping or closing a badger sett during the closed season (early, before July 1) traps dependent cubs underground to starve and causes severe animal cruelty. "No artificial sett was proposed as the developer's ecologist claimed that the badgers had moved to an outlier sett in the woodland (which was not owned by the developers). "The licence application was made following the grant of planning permission, at which time there were no badger-related pre-commencement planning conditions. Accordingly, the licensed closure of the outlier sett did not have an adverse impact on the local badger population.”