On 4th September 2023, Patrick Weekes of Radbourne Construction Limited pleaded guilty to four offences relating to a housing development in Harehill, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

The licence was issued to the defendant in October 2020, permitting the capture, disturbance, transport, and damage of resting places for brown long-eared (Plecotus auritus) and common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) bats.

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However, following a multi-agency site visit carried out in February this year, Natural England identifies several breaches of the licence conditions, including:

• failure to install Bitumen type 1F roofing felt — which is designed to mitigate risks to bats — with hessian matrix
• failure to install the compensation and mitigation measures, including specific ridge crevices and access tiles to allow bats to roost within the roof 
• failure to complete post-development monitoring 
• stripping the roof of a property containing a common pipistrelle day roost without direct ecological supervision

The breaches left brown long-eared bats with no suitable maternity roosting provision within the site, and significantly reduced the suitability of roosting opportunities for common pipistrelle bats, as well as endangered the welfare of both species.

The court highlighted that he had acted in contravention to the professional advice provided by both an ecological consultant and Natural England.

The developer was fined £3,200 plus a victim’s surcharge of £1,280, and ordered to pay full prosecution costs of £9,955.17.

Steph Bird-Halton, delivery director at Natural England, commented: “We do not take the decision to prosecute lightly.

“However, where individuals or companies place the welfare or favourable conservation status of protected species at risk, we will not hesitate to take targeted and proportionate enforcement action.”