Bat survey costs - am I dreaming?

[lou]

Can any of you oracles out there help with this bat issue please? I have had a quick search on the forum for other people's bat problems but nobody seems to have mentioned the unbelievable cost of the bat surveys that we are required to have to get our planning permission through. It seems that our property ticks all the right (or wrong from my perspective) boxes for being a haven for bats and the CO can't pass our plans till the bat survey is done. The most recent quote we have had is for £1,140 EXCLUDING VAT!

English Heritage were helpful but we are in Wales and there seem to be different ecology rules. Now, don't get me wrong. I like bats and want to protect them if possible but the quotes seem absurdly high for just identifying the little b*ggers.

 

[Gervase]

I'm afraid that's par for the course in Wales. You'll generally need at least two visits, sometimes more. And if they find you've got an active roost, be prepared for further buggerance.

 

[AMc]

I was clearly very lucky, I discovered I had bats (Common pipistrelle, Pipistrellus pipistrellus in our loft. We noticed them in late spring coming out under the eaves so I went up and investigated. They were roosting in under the edge of the roof under the felt and as we later discovered breeding in the mineral wool loft insulation.

My initial call was to google "bats in the roof" which lead me to a government site with phone numbers. I called and found the number was for the Bat Conservation Trust 0845 1300 228. They gave their standard line that bats don't intentionally come into your home, don't chew through cables or smell (I'm sorry, they do) and it's an offence to interfere with them. They arranged to send a volunteer around, which cost nothing.

He duly turned up, clambered around the loft and confirmed a breeding roost. The bats would be there for the summer raising their babies and gone in early September to a cooler winter roost. I then mentioned our renovation/conversion involved adding a sunpipe, a new velux and opening an existing Velux into the house where it previously only lit the loft space. Obviously this all involved work in the roof and would change it. As it's a criminal offence to deliberately interfere with the roost I needed to work out how to do it. He told me that as long as we waited until the bats had gone to their winter roost the work wouldn't need any special permission IIRC I got a letter to that effect a while later.

He's since been back a couple of times, the first time when the juvenile bats were finding their way into the house and again last year for the same problem. It seems they don't sleep all day, the babies crawl around and get through the narrowest gaps into the house then get hopelessly lost. It's really no fun having to try and evict a bat that's flying around your bedroom at midnight and won't go out of an open window. We've also had mother and child couples hanging behind the curtains, presumably she followed her idiot offspring and also got trapped.

Our work only required building control approval - so we were able to work on the basis of that visit. We did the work this time last year. The bats came again over the summer and bred very, very successfully. Last year the volunteer reckoned there would be about 20 adults in the roost. Last August I sat in the vinery with a good view at dusk and counted 142 leaving the eaves over an hour.

As you have discovered work with Planning Permission requires a bit more...
Bat Conservation Trust 0845 1300 228

Work requiring planning permission or work in a non-dwelling

If the roost is not in a dwelling but is, for example, in an old farm building, out-building, or a tree then it is necessary for the person proposing the work to apply for a Habitats Regulations Licence. This also applies to work in a dwelling house that requires planning permission. These are administered by the relevant devolved power, either Natural England, the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly or the Environment and Heritage Service (Northern Ireland). The forms to apply for these licences require detailed bat knowledge, so it is usual to employ an environmental consultant to carry out a survey of the structure containing the roost, and write the method statement for the licence on behalf of the person proposing the work....

It seems that it may be possible to apply for the licence yourself or perhaps with the help of local bat volunteers/local college but you may not get the result you need i.e. the licence to proceed?

Personally £1140 for professional fees seems a lot but on the other hand I paid almost that for an asbestos survey that took a couple of hours and turned up a cement tank reinforced with asbestos (labelled clearly as such) an old bath panel and missed a broken tile of the stuff loose on the floor None of which required specialist removal, only controlled disposal.
Structural engineers reports were also very expensive as we're the fees for drawing the plans and submitting the building control forms, but professional expertise isn't cheap and as a consultant in another profession I have to respect that these people earn a professional living.

I guess the thing to decide is how much it costs to delay?

 

[MdB]

or smell (I'm sorry, they do)

Our ones don't. We just have to sweep up the droppings now and again (completely dry - don't smell) and that's about it.

 

[AMc]

Ours do, you go up in the loft and there is an ammonia smell - which isn't me The smell doesn't come into the house and I don't mind.

I find it more disturbing when they die and dry out into crispy bats. That was a nasty experience when I opened the loft hatch without due care and attention.

 

[MdB]

I find it more disturbing when they die and dry out into crispy bats.

We have only had about three of those thankfully.

I love watching them fly about, very spectacular.

 

[Penners]

be prepared for further buggerance.

Blimey! :shock:

And you thought your only problem was bats....

 

[Delta]

lou,

I had to submit a bat survey in conjunction with a LBC application last year to replace our roof, and we employed a local ecology consultant who according to their site "...hold appropriate Natural England licenses and work in accordance with appropriate Natural England and BCT (Bat Conservation Trust) survey and good practice guidelines."

They popped round, then duly sent a letter a photos to the council, with copies to us, and I paid £102 for the privilege. We don't have bats but do have Passer domesticus in residence though, that's the house sparrow to the rest of us. We'll leave them alone too, they keep to a couple of corners so not too fussed.

I think your £1400 quote is quite offensive and hope you find a more respectable firm soon.

 

[lou]

Thanks to you all - not least for making me laugh instead of grinding my teeth. Delta - I am getting the impression that the Welsh Countryside Commission are a lot stricter about their bat surveys but I'll hold out hope that some local registered bat specialist will be ethical enough to give us a reasonable quote. The £1,140 is just the start and if they found bats they would want to come back to do further surveys - at our expense! AArrgggh! Back to teeth grinding. And from now on I am going to make liberal use of the term buggerance - I can think of lots of uses for it straight away.