converting an old forge, but there are bats

[carpenter1]

I am considering purchasing an old forge to convert in to a house. But it had planning which lapsed 2 years ago. Its been on the market for about 4 years.

The bat report said there are bats hibernating in the building. I would need to leave room for their roost.

As its an old forge there could be contaminated ground.

 

What do you guys think?

Any one had dealing with bats and conversion?

[carpenter1]

Any one had any experience?

[agrimog]

how old is the bat report, and have you had a ground survey for contamination done, then you can start thinking about your options, bats are easy to deal with and will live quite happily in harmony with humans

[carpenter1]

They had one doe at planning stage, and another about 2 years ago, and there are more detected in the lst report, so they want even more of the building.

Not done ground yet

[Charlieh]

are they hibernating in the building? (over winter) as this is unusual (unless its a huge stone building) or are they just roosting there (spring-autumn)? if its a maternity roost this will mean more strict planning design but for the most part a well designed loft will satisfy local authority ecologists at the planning stage. Most bat consultants can liaise with your architect to design something to accommodate the bats. It may just mean leaving a certain area of open loft space, or a restriction in the use of the room below if its a maternity roost to prevent excessing disturbance (eg not a lounge or actively used room, maybe a bedroom etc!)

[carpenter1]

yes they are in the ash pit

[farmer rod]

I have been through exactly this problem. So firstly bats are not a problem, it is the crazy system put in place to look after them that causes all the hassle. Unless things have changed in the last six years, English Nature are the body charged with overseeing the protection of bats. We found that we were not able to ask English Nature any questions, we had to appoint a Bat Consultant, who were very good, but inevitably we had to pay them. Our Bat Consultant proposed measures for the protection of the Bats, which were eventually approved by English Nature.

 

Effectively, we had to build a bat loft, before works could start in earnest, and I had to be trained to handle bats, so that they could be transferred to the bat loft if found during building works.

 

Your arguments for planning consent are that the bats are better of if there is a building with a loft, than if the whole lot falls down, or is demolished.

 

 

Contaminated Land, take somje soil samples, send them off to a "competent" lab, they will probably come back ok, send a copy of lab report to BCO and check that he accepts these findings. Job Done. Good Luck

[oslac]

Be very cautious. Bats are protected species and it is ilegal to handle a bat or interfere with its roost without a licence. It doesn't matter if you have planning permision or not.

 

Bat surveys include foraging, commuting and roosting surveys and it would appear you have roosting bats. Next a survey will be required to determine which species of bat and how many. Once that survey is completed, a mitigation report may be required to set out how you will manage the bats whilst carrying out any works to the building.

Mitigation may include the need to construct a temporary roost, transfer the bats across and then recreate a new roost in the converted forge/house and introduce them back. It can all get very complicated and very costly and very time consuming.

Before you purchase the forge, I would get up to date reports (two year old reports are probably at the edge of their reliability) carried out by an expert and find out what would be the consequences. An ecologist may be able to help but even they cannot get too close to a bat without a licence, so look for a licenced ecologist.

Light, noise and vibration are all a no-no in the bat world and so expert advice is essential.

Good luck