When undertaking any building or development work you should consider that bats may be present, therefore the first step in any development or building works should be to gain an ecological assessment of the site from a suitably qualified ecological consultant.

Depending on the type and location of site, the habitats on the site and in the surrounding area, an ecological consultant may be required to carry out some or all of the steps below:

  1. Undertake a bat survey (at the appropriate time of year) and produce a report of findings, including (if bats were found) details of roosts, where and what species
  2. Compile a mitigation plan/method statement detailing any works on site that may impacts bats and how they can be mitigated, to be shared with architects and/or building contractors
  3. Incorporate the bat survey report and mitigation plan/method statement into planning application
  4. Apply for planning permission
  5. Apply for an European Protected Species licence
  6. If granted, carry out works with ecologist supervision and any other required working methods detailed in the method statement
  7. Compliance check to ensure that mitigation is being properly implemented
  8. Monitor the site to check response of the bat population to the mitigation


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