Batty Regulation

We’ve got bats and liked them, until the regulations made us regret our tolerance of them as the bills and complications mounted.

Sitting with a glass of wine in our small courtyard in Wiltshire and watching the bats swoop from their nesting places was a real pleasure. We’d even drag friends out from summer dinners to watch the acrobats in action. We liked the bats.

But now I fear that our experience has left everyone who has heard our tale determined to eradicate any bats they find and to tell nobody. That’s not good for conservation and it’s all down to an obsessive over-regulation that puts the interests of bats over those of humans and scarcely compromises at all.

When we bought our house 25 years ago, we knew that one part of the property had bats in it, probably as a resting spot for Greater Horseshoe. When we carried out some conversion work on that part of the building, we abided by the restrictions that then applied - restricting work to the winter months. Quite voluntarily, we decided that we would allow a space for the bats – our very own bat cave. Over the years, we were delighted to see the colony grow substantially as Soprano Pipistrelles arrived in considerable numbers and we went from a handful of bats in residence to over 200. What fools we were!

When we discovered that a crack in a gable wall required repair, we got quotes for the work. The quote we accepted involved the insertion of helical bars and was for just over £3k. But new, more restrictive regulations for the protection of bats now applied. In order for the work to proceed, a bat mitigation licence was required. Obtaining that licence has quadrupled the cost – and we got away lightly.

The regulations that bite

A bat mitigation licence can authorise works which might disturb bats and can limit actions or genuinely mitigate their effect by making alternative provision for bats. All bats in England Wales are protected, even the relatively common ones like our Soprano Pipistrelles. The licences can be obtained from Natural England.

There is a scheme for domestic properties which can cut costs to the absolute minimum. We contacted the Bat Conservation Trust and they arranged for volunteers to attend. Understandably, this took a number of months – the demand far outstrips the availability of volunteers. Further months passed while we waited for the report from the lead volunteer. The report essentially stated that the importance and size of our bat population and the complexity of the work combined to make our project unsuitable for the Bat Conservation Trust scheme.

That meant we had to contact ecologists to help us get a licence – and professional ecologists are rare and expensive breeds. After seeking various quotes, all of which were vague because of the large number of unknowns, we finally settled on a firm of ecological consultants. I should make I clear that I have no criticism of them; minor niggles apart, they acted professionally and efficiently and made the process as easy for us as they could. And one has to bear in mind that their real client is the bat.

In order to gain a bat mitigation licence for the works that were needed on our property, a series of surveys was to be carried out so as to establish the number and types of bats present and identify their roosting area. This should have been carried out by posting ecologists at each point of the compass – a very expensive proposition – but, because we had a friend who had monitored the bats as part of her own research, we were spared this and just one check by one ecologist was deemed sufficient.

The ecologist had to meet with the builder who was inserting helical bars to strengthen the wall. She was the able to apply for a bat mitigation licence. To ensure that the application would be granted, a number of improvement measure were included in the application, such as the erection of bat boxes and light restriction measures for the bat cave. Natural England then had to consider that application, which was framed on the basis that the work would be carried out before April, thus minimising disturbance. By the time Natural England granted the application it was mid-March. Like any competent builder, ours was busy and not able to parachute in at short notice so we had to apply to Natural England again and seek an amendment to allow the work to be undertaken in the autumn. Natural England waived the fee that normally applies but that saving won’t even pay for an hour of a professional ecologist’s time.

All the work is done now. We estimate that the total costs involved, including some increases in the builder’s costs and the substantial fees of the ecologists, have reached just under £15k. That’s right, five times the original likely cost.

A lesson and a knock-on effect

We’ve told our tale to many friends and the reaction has largely been disbelief, followed by a declaration along the following lines: ‘if I found bats, I’d just kill them’.  Natural England might want to reflect on that.