Bat delays end as 200-year-old church gets green light for conversion

Twm Owen, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans to convert a 200-year-old church to flats have finally got the go-ahead after being delayed for a year due to a single bat. 

The application to convert Pisgah Baptist Church in Talywain to six flats was rejected in October 2024 as the developer hadn’t submitted a bat survey, with the decision upheld on appeal for the same reason. 

Applicant, Beth Jones of Wainfelin Road, Pontypool, then submitted a new planning application in June this year complete with a bat survey carried out in June and July. 

As a result Torfaen Borough Council’s planning department said it could approve the new application for the conversion of the former baptist church into six flats with a small extension. 

However, as the survey had confirmed a bat had been using the empty church, a special licence to move it will have to be obtained from the Welsh Government as the species enjoys the highest form of protection under UK and European law. 

Torfaen planning officer Tom Braithwaite said in his report which approved the application: “This application has subsequently been supported by dusk emergence surveys which has found a single common pipistrelle emerging from the north-west facing gable end of the existing extension.  

“Therefore, this proposal impacts upon a building where bats are present and therefore as bats are protected under domestic and European legislation, a licence to move the bats would be required.” 

Three objections to the plans, including a petition signed by 20 residents from Pisgah Road and Pisgah Close, were received by the council but Mr Braithwaite said the concerns were either addressed in the application or weren’t relevant to the planning process. 

Objections included complaints that the development could lead to parking across private driveways while Mr Braithwaite said additional lighting is unikely to impact existing homes on Pisgah Close which are 40 metres from the property. 

His report said as the former Sunday School building has already been converted to residential, in 2015, and there is an existing use for the building the application isn’t a “material” change to Pisgah Road. 

Concerns over parking was acknowledged and Mr Braithwaite said the council had accepted the proposal to rely on on-street parking, and a nearby council car park, rather than creating eight off street spaces as that would have required access over a car park owned by the Bron Afon housing association. 

The report also stated the existing use as a chapel, and other community uses which wouldn’t require planning permission, would likely generate more traffic movements than six flats. 

He also said it will be the applicant’s responsibility “to do the relevant investigative work” to resolve claims one of the church’s early ministers, and other members, may be buried under the church before any works are carried out. 

Pisgah Baptist Church held its first baptism in 1827, but the South Wales Argus reported in June 2019 the congregation was forced to leave after the building was deemed unsafe due to dry rot, wet rot, and woodworm, and members would have needed to raise up to £60,000 for repairs.