On Tuesday 11th April 2017 Magistrates sitting at Leamington Spa Court heard a case relating to the destruction of a bat roost.

Mr Keith Marchington aged 72 years the owner of the property in question and Mr Samuel John Taylor aged 33 years a builder contracted to renovate the property both pleaded guilty to the offence and were fined just £83 and £153 respectively. Both were ordered to pay £135 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.

The property in question was a bungalow and barn that were to be demolished and replaced by a new dwelling. There was a lengthy planning history relating to the site and survey work undertaken over a period of years identified and confirmed roosts of brown long eared and soprano pipistrelle bats.

The owner of the property Mr Marchington was advised on a number of occasions that he would need to obtain a licence from Natural England and would have to provide a bat house to which the bats could relocate. Despite this advice it seems that Mr Marchington decided to commence works during the spring of 2016 and asked an ecologist to obtain the required licence. When told that further survey work would be needed before a licence would be considered Mr Marchington, it was said, asked what the penalties for destroying a roost without a licence were and that he would be prepared to accept a fine. It was later found that the buildings had been demolished and the roosts destroyed. The matter was reported to the Police.

Following a lengthy Police investigation papers were submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service and were considered by a specialist prosecutor who decided that matters should be prosecuted. The case was first listed for the 11th April with both Mr Marchington and Mr Taylor pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity.

Source: BCT

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