Bat Roosts, Home Extensions and Planning Permission, something needs to give.

The need for protected species surveys for almost any scale of project is making the small building industry very difficult to manage and also maintain. Until recently, house extensions and alterations were fairly simple, the scheme was submitted for planning, which was generally duly granted, and if there were alterations to the existing roof as part of this structure, it went ahead, with the one proviso that if a protected species such as Bats were encountered, then work stops and the ecologists called in to advise and assist.

Recently, we are aware that even for house extensions, some local authorities are asking for initial ecological walkover surveys, (minimum cost £500) as part of the planning process. If there is evidence of bats, then dawn and dusk surveys are required at the cost of several thousand pounds, before any planning decisions can be made.

Bats are only active between May and Mid-September, normally three surveys are required at least two weeks apart, and so in an 18 week window, if the surveys are not carried out, then no planning decision will be made until the following year, completely skewing any opportunity for planning applications to be progressed and approved in the meantime, and giving no opportunity for homeowners to plan the build, obtain prices from builder, get them lined up (which can take up to a year) because of the uncertainty of gaining planning permission.

If Bats are identified and found, it is generally no problem, there just has to be a method statement for re-locating the bats and a new home provided which is all perfectly reasonable. The big issue is that planning permission will not be granted until this drawn-out process has been undertaken. If there is an issue with bats, why can the planners not attach a condition to the planning permission that no work commences until the appropriate surveys have been carried out, at least the homeowners can then plan with the confidence of having a permission.

The current situation is unnecessary and ludicrous, and is severely affecting the small building industry which supports small builders, trades-people, architects and building products suppliers, when times are tough this is a sector of the building industry that carries many of these disciplines through.

The ludicrous thing is that there are many building operations that can be carried-out under permitted development which do not require protected species surveys and could be a lot more disruptive to bats, so what is the difference? Someone needs to take a pragmatic approach, much of this legislation is European legislation, and we are no longer in Europe, no-one wishes to harm these species, but there are ways of navigating through the planning and construction process without endangering livelihoods.

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