Hi, I'm interested to know how other LPA's are currently dealing with
bat surveys and specifically in relation to householder planning
applications. I have recently stepped in to assist the householder
team at my Authority to help them great through this exceptionally
busy period and also to carry out a review of their processes. One of
the issue that has been raised is the issues the validation officers
are having when asking for bat surveys. We currently ask for them at
the validation stage, which inevitably leads to a lot of back and
forth with the applicant and in many cases un-necessary abuse. If I'm
honest we need to look at how we do things as a whole but to allow us
to do this, we need to make some space to breath and one of my
thoughts was to pause asking for bar surveys at the validation stage.
During this pause we would still identify whether the property poses a
risk i.e close to woodland etc but instead attach a suitably worded
condition. I know this is risky and it would be preferable to consult
the Councils ecologist for his view as part of the assessment process,
but he is equally under pressure and does not have the capacity to
look at the applications, within a reasonable timeframe. I also
appreciate that asking for surveys through conditions might be seen as
passing the problem down the line but it would be good to know if
anyone does anything similar and whether it is a risk worth taking and
seeing how it goes.
