Bat surveys - impossible to beat?

[Andehh]

We knocked the building down the second bats were mentioned, don't need planning for that!

 

We had a full ecology report done which said NO BATS, but planning warned they'd want a bat survey anyway, due to a planned october/November start of construction and confidence we would get planning approved, we pulled the demolition forwards, then a week later sent a very apologetic letter back to them. There were a few grave warnings on fines and penalties, but the risk of delay and costs made the decision easy.

 

It helped that our new build was broadly speaking reusing the existing footprint (project planned as extension, but swapped to a full rebuild) so had they forced a rebuild we'd have made it work.

 

We did have a real fight over trees, had a full tree survey which stated our garden was already over subscribed with trees. Planning wanted a full tree replanting plan, for the 4 small, low value, excessively aged trees. Took several weeks pushing back on it. An hour with a chain saw pre project, and those trees would never have existed had I known the headache they caused....

[DevilDamo]

46 minutes ago, Andehh said:

We knocked the building down the second bats were mentioned, don't need planning for that!

Not in all cases.

[Raine]

1 hour ago, Andehh said:

We did have a real fight over trees, had a full tree survey which stated our garden was already over subscribed with trees. Planning wanted a full tree replanting plan, for the 4 small, low value, excessively aged trees. Took several weeks pushing back on it. An hour with a chain saw pre project, and those trees would never have existed had I known the headache they caused....

 

Yes, fortunately I've already got ahead of that particular potential issue!  😁

 

Shame the previous owners didn't think to do the same a few decades ago with the massive ash tree that was 2m from the existing extension.  😞

[phykell]

Misery really loves company.

 

I had to have an ecology survey including bats, newts, etc. together with an aboricultural (tree) survey for my house renovation together with an archaeological report penned by an archaeologist who was on-site whilst all of the foundations were dug - the same archaeologist also did a full report on the structure/design of the house as it was to be added to the heritage asset list - it was built in the 1750s and the conservation area it's in was mentioned in the Domesday book - the land dates back to the Romans as well so I didn't mind the archaeological report to be fair but the total cost of all of the surveys was quite something.

OK, so around a year later, I then wanted to demolish a dilapidated garage and replace it with a much larger outbuilding. Despite the fact I had all of the surveys from just over 12 months before, the council demanded that I redo the ecological and the arboricultural ones (no archaelogical survey required, luckily), despite the fact that the earlier reports had found no bats, newts, etc. and the old garage/new outbuilding, were nowhere near any trees. I asked if the previous reports could be "updated" but was told that wasn't an option.

 

The ecologist visited and decided that while he found no evidence of bats, that the old garage, before it was to be demolished, needed to have a bat survey done as there were places where they could easily access the garage, though that would only happen in roosting season. I was told to have another survey to check if bats were using the garage to roost but I'd have to wait as it wasn't the right time of year, delaying me by several months. However, I then repaired the roof/eaves of the garage to be demolished so that if bats did turn up to roost, they wouldn't be able to, obviating the need to conduct a roosting survey (so I thought) - however, I was told that wasn't an option either!

Fast forward to roosting season, two people turned up, sat in their car watching for bats to enter/exit the (now fixed) garage roof and eaves, walked around the property a couple of times and left after a couple of hours. Despite it only requiring a tick box to say "Bats present - NO", the report was delayed and took over a month to complete.

Money for old rope indeed.