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Email: enquiries@localsurveyorsdirect.co.uk
Phone: 0800 0147 453
Filling in the short form below will instantly give you a set of contact details for people who can provide a Bat Survey for your property. You will be provided with their contact details, all within less than a second and you will then be able to contact them directly to discuss your situation in more detail.
Filling in the short form above will instantly give you a set of contact details for people who can provide a Bat Survey for your property. You will be provided with their contact details, all within less than a second and you will then be able to contact them directly to discuss your situation in more detail.
What is a Bat Survey?
There are currently 17 species of bats known to be breeding in the UK, all of which are protected by law, meaning that it is an offence to kill, injure or capture a bat or to intentionally disturb bats in their natural habitats. It is also an offence to damage or destroy a roost and obstruct access to a roost. Therefore, if you are renovating, converting or altering an old building, you may be required to conduct a bat survey to check for the presence of bats within the building or immediate landscape.
A Preliminary Roost Assessments should be undertaken to ascertain if there is ‘reasonable likelihood’ that bats are present. This walk-around, initial survey can be carried out at any time of year and will categorise the site as Negligible, Low, Moderate, or High in terms of likelihood of the presence of bats or their roosts.
Negligible means that it is not a site likely to be used by commuting or foraging bats and should require no further action.
Low suggests habitat that could be used by small numbers of commuting bats such as a hedgerows, isolated trees or water. A Low rating would probably demand one dusk emergence or dawn re-entry survey on structures and no further surveys required on trees.
Moderate suggests that there is continuous habitat within the immediate landscape that could be used by bats such as trees, shrubbery or water. A Moderate result would normally require two separate follow on survey visits. One dusk emergence and a separate dawn re-entry survey.
High denotes the presence of continuous, high-quality habitat that is connected to the immediate and wider landscape that is likely to be used regularly by commuting bats this would include rivers, streams, hedgerows, trees or nearby woodland. A High rating would usually require three separate follow up survey visits. One dusk emergence, a separate dawn re-entry survey and a third inspection which could be either dusk or dawn.
A Negligible rating would normally mean that no further investigation was necessary and that the surveyor was satisfied that there was no threat of harm to bats associated with the proposed work and at that stage any application for planning permission would be able to progress. It should be noted that if any further surveys are required as a result of the preliminary survey, these surveys would need to be undertaken between May and September, for buildings rated low or moderate, at least one survey would require to be between May and August. Buildings with a High need to have two surveys undertaken between May and August.
If a survey shows that bats are using your building, you need to plan how to avoid harming them. If you cannot avoid harming bats, or their habitats, you can apply for a mitigation licence from Natural England which is a public body, sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). Established by an Act of Parliament, its purpose is to help conserve, and manage sustainable development of the country’s natural environment and resources. For licensing or planning and development queries, contact them on 0300 060 3900.
For general information on bats go to https://www.bats.org.uk, the website of the Bat Conservation Trust, their helpline number is 0345 1300 228.
How does this service work?
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Need help?
Email: enquiries@localsurveyorsdirect.co.uk
Phone: 0800 0147 453