Despite the deepening controversy surrounding the government's badger culling policy, and the fact that the independent panel charged with assessing the cull has not yet delivered its verdict, this week it emerged that Natural England is encouraging "Potential applicants" for cull licences from this year onwards to begin preparing information for the Expression of Interest (EOI) process.

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In a post on its website, Natural England states "No decision has yet been taken by Government about further licences for badger culls. However gathering important details, such as the land and landowners who would be involved in the cull zone, will help put applicants in a good position to seek a licence later this year."

The post urges prospective cull companies to apply, so that licenses can be prepared and granted in time for culling later this year. If culling is rolled out, Natural England will select candidates from the EOIs and invite them to submit full applications. However, the furore surrounding the divisive culling policy has not died down since shooting ended at the beginning of December.

Critics maintain that badger culling is "a costly distraction" that can offer "no meaningful contribution" to efforts to prevent the spread of bovine TB. Many scientists and charities opposing the cull have called for tighter cattle-based measures and argued that such measures are already yielding results.

Last week, it was revealed that the number of bovine TB cases in England has been overstated since 2011 – the result of a glitch in IT software at AHVLA, according to Defra officials. The issue is being investigated, the environment department said on Wednesday, though it has not been revealed to what extent the official figures were inflated. Cull opponents said the revelation casts further doubt on the government's case for culling.

Figures released by senior police officers from Avon and Somerset and Gloucestershire Constabularies also revealed that the cost of policing the two trial culls was £2.6 million – well over twice the amount anticipated by the Association of Chief Police Officers ahead of the culls.

Defra has again come under fire this week, after its response to a freedom of information request submitted by the Badger Trust revealed the government spent public money on a recount of badgers in the two cull zones, despite assurances the cull would be farmer-led, and that the only public money used would be for supervision from Natural England.

The fluctuating badger populations in the cull zones have been another cause of unease; badger populations were drastically revised three times in the 12 months before culling began, with the latest recount suggesting there were a thousand fewer badgers in two cull zones than had previously been estimated. Over the same period, other monitored badger populations remained relatively constant.  

In the initial six weeks of the trials, and despite the reduced population estimates, pilot culls in both Somerset and Gloucestershire failed to kill the number of badgers Defra's advisors had said would be required to reduce their effect on TB instance (though this was not measured in either cull). Even after extensions of several weeks, the kill targets were not met in either cull zone.

Despite the very public shortcomings of the trial culls, and the lack of a scientific consensus on their merit, Dorset Police Commissioner Martyn Underhill said on Monday that the prospect of culling in the country is "increasingly likely." The Commissioner added, "Even without going into whether it's right or wrong, it does fracture communities."

Although a Defra spokesperson said that a decision on the future of the badger culling policy would not be made until the independent panel of experts has submitted its report on the pilots, environment secretary Owen Paterson has expressed his desire to roll out culling to new regions this year. The environment department and NFU maintain that culling is necessary to tackle the "wildlife reservoir" of bovine TB.

The independent panel tasked with assessing whether the badger culls in the South West have been effective, humane and worked to budget will deliver its report sometime in early 2014.