Author Topic: bats (Read 2872 times)

TheSmilingSheep · « **on:** November 22, 2015, 05:27:54 pm »

hello, just wanted to 'get a feel' of costs.... we've got planning permission to demolish a cracked breeze block garage and put up wooden one.... need permission because close to listed cottage... needed bat survey....

got survey - entailing first visit ("can't see any evidence of bats, but this is JUST the sort of place they'd like... so we better conduct two further dawn and dusk surveys.... oh, that'll be about £2k thanks...")...then first dawn & dusk ("well, didn't see a bat in the garage but lots around, we'll come back in a couple of weeks)... then second dusk visit ("oh, yes, as we thought, there's one male pipistrelle roosting there...")... paid over £2k....

so application to Natural England for a licence.... - which also requires ecologist involvement... just been quoted £1600 for ecologist to put in application and monitor site for us.... is this MAD? Our we MAD? Even if we put in application ourselves still looks like a further £1,000...

I really like bats by the way, happy to put up boxes, happy to 'play by the rules', but am now fantasising about the tractor that didn't accidentally drive into garage and KNOCK IT DOWN!!!

mojocafa · « **Reply #1 on:** November 22, 2015, 06:53:06 pm »

Be careful accidentally knocking something down, I know someone that accidentally knocked a building down because of bats and all hell broke out. That was about 20 years ago and the new building still isn't built

TheSmilingSheep · « **Reply #2 on:** November 22, 2015, 07:07:01 pm »

Am ex-lawyer! Know not to do that.... as I said.... I'm dreaming about the tractor that 'didn't' accidentally knock it down! A girl can dream.... surely.....

Hevxxx99 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 22, 2015, 07:56:21 pm »

I've got a friend in exactly the same position. He wants to convert a barn into a house. The second survey found one poop that MAY have been bat and now everything is on hold until May as they can't do surveys over winter. It's on a farm, there are lots of nice bat-friendly barns around, if bats are found, they only need a licence - it won't stop the conversion. But no. Nothing to be done until spring when another £2k survey will be carried out.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #4 on:** November 22, 2015, 08:36:57 pm »

My goodness, those costs are huge. The costs alone must put many people off doing the legal thing, let alone the long waits. I wonder just what they use the fees for.......... I love bats too, but I'm suddenly pleased we don't have any.

bazzais · « **Reply #5 on:** November 22, 2015, 09:27:42 pm »

I agree with Fleecewife.

it does sound like its forcing people out of the ability to find a solution because of uneeded costs.

Love bats too. But there it loads of them. Or well here. But not a specialist.

Buttermilk · « **Reply #6 on:** November 23, 2015, 06:49:28 am »

This happened to a friend with her barn. Got planning but could only do the work at with a licence at vast expense. It was so much hassle and expense that she sold up and moved letting the buyers deal with the problem. With her survey the watcher blinked and saw a bat about but could not say for definite it was from the barn but still classed it as such. No common sense allowed.

TheSmilingSheep · « **Reply #7 on:** November 23, 2015, 07:27:57 am »

Sort of glad I'm not alone on this (isn't TAS wonderful!)... but sorry for those others....
It really is infuriating, and SO expensive. I really am all for saving bats but there must be another way...

(I do 'get' the argument that if you can afford to rebuild a barn/garage etc then you can be made to afford the associated animal protection but it just doesn't seem proportionate for the fairly ubiquitous pipistrelle)...

Ho hum - better start saving.... no mineral buckets for the flock, no mealworms for the hens, and the cats can just forget about those hugely expensive tins of pate!!!!!!!

harmony · « **Reply #8 on:** November 23, 2015, 09:40:45 am »

(I do 'get' the argument that if you can afford to rebuild a barn/garage etc then you can be made to afford the associated animal protection but it just doesn't seem proportionate for the fairly ubiquitous pipistrelle)...

I don't think that is the point or a valid argument. I think it is a p*** take personally. And I'd like to see these so called bat survey people justify their costs. I haven't been in this situation but it seems very unfair. A friend had this a few years ago and her survey was £600.

A couple of years ago I needed a flood risk assessment for a bridge, it was a community project and we didn't have spare money for a "specialist" so I did the RA and it was accepted.

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #9 on:** November 23, 2015, 09:47:11 am »

I do get all the above but would just mention that even the ubiquitous pipistrelle can take a nosedive. We have a nursery roost in our loft and do a bat count twice in the summer. Numbers dived from 150 to 5 over the course of two cold, wet Springs.

SmallWelshBarn · « **Reply #10 on:** November 23, 2015, 09:48:07 am »

Where did bats live before modern buildings......... My advice would be before embarking on any project with suspected bat infestation is ensure you clean up all the crap before any inspection. I have heard of a farmer leaving a tractor running in a building with bats before to help send them on there way.
Once bats are found you are screwed as the surveys are ridiculously expensive.