BCT’s response to the removal of Bat Survey Guidelines from Natural England’s advice

Natural England (NE) has removed the Bat Survey Guidelines from their standing advice for protected species and development. This has taken place in the context of the government rhetoric around bats as a blocker for development and the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (PIB) currently working through Parliament. 

There is no evidence to support the claim that bats are a blocker when planning and licensing processes are implemented effectively. We have already offered constructive suggestions on how that effective implementation can be achieved. The government’s own impact assessment of the PIB failed to show positive impacts for nature recovery beyond nutrient neutrality because they simply do not have the data to quantify the benefits and costs to other environmental obligations within PIB, including protected species licensing.

However, a long-standing issue has been that, despite the clear statement within the Bat Survey Guidelines that they “do not aim to either override or replace knowledge and experience”, it is often the case that they are seen as an instruction manual and interpreted as such by some local planning authorities, Natural England and a minority of consultants. When this happens it can cause unnecessary work and delays.

In response to this we are working with a small group of highly experienced consultants to produce a set of case studies which will demonstrate how the guidelines can be used by experienced ecologists to deliver pragmatic approaches to surveying for bats in relation to developments across a variety of scales and types.