It is common for major infrastructure projects to consider protected species such as bats, badgers, newts or similar, and common place for mitigation schemes to hit the headlines for the significant cost as part of major schemes.
Anyone who has had dealings with the planning system will likely have come across ecology-based validation requirements for applications for development that have a reasonable chance of affecting protected species/wildlife. The minimum requirement is a preliminary ecology survey, which often recommends follow-up surveys when protected species are thought to be affected and specific licences or mitigation schemes are required.
At Robinson & Hall, we regularly commission surveys to satisfy validation requirements for planning applications. This also applies when building maintenance is being proposed that doesn’t require planning consent but can still have an impact on protected species.
This particularly relates to works to re-roof historic buildings, particularly those in rural areas where there are often crevices that could allow bats to access voids with the roof or have access to the roof space.