Mitigation measures included in woodland glamping pod plans to protect local bats

Dale Spridgeon, Local Democracy Reporter

Measures to protect bats are among the proposals for a new woodland glamping site in north Wales, where plans for 11 pods are set to be considered by councillors.

Cyngor Gwynedd will consider the proposed change of use of land to create a camping site at Bluebell Woods, on Norman Lane, Caerhun near Bangor.

The proposal includes associated works, creation of permeable pathways, parking area, soft landscaping, and drainage provisions.

The application has been made by Michael Williams. Planning documents described how the application site is in open countryside, on the corner of Norman Lane, and a rural unclassified track, approximately 1.8km north-east of Pentir and 1.9km south west of Bangor.

There was also agricultural land to the north-east and the north-west, an unclassified access road to the south-east and Norman Lane to the south-west.

The facilities and pods proposed would be of “a high quality glamping accommodation”.

They would include a bedroom, small bathroom, kitchenette and a separate, shared toilet/shower block to allow for self-contained visits. Each pod would also have a decking area at the front.

Vehicular access to the site would be along the unnamed access road in the location of the existing access.

The access would also be “formalised and realigned in order to encourage suitable positioning of vehicles and improve the achievable visibility from the access”, the plans say.

The parking area would provide 17 spaces, equating to one space per pod, plus an additional two, for use “during the unlikely occurrence of overspill parking,” the details say.

An internal track leading through the trees towards the north-eastern part of the site would provide for “suitable access to dedicated parking areas along the track”.

Soft landscaping would be carried out in the form of new soft planting, mostly along the boundaries “to improve upon the existing vegetation/screening” whilst “additional trees are also proposed within the site,” the plans added.

Fears over an impact on multiple species of bat after activity was seen in surveys carried out in August and September 2025.

The creatures had been “found to be entering woodland from the north and along road corridors, congregating in the open ‘parkland’ in the SW corner of the proposed site”.

A mitigation strategy included “maintaining the woodland as a suitable flight corridor and foraging area”. This was aimed at “preserving the SW half of the woodland as a dark area for bats,” the plans said.

Without mitigation, the impact would be assessed “as ‘major’ at a national level, primarily due to the effect of lighting on bat access through the woodland”.

Further ecological mitigation proposed included use of bat boxes, a lighting plan with “properly positioned and shielded lighting minimising light spill”, standard trees and 20 smaller trees used to “thicken mid-canopy” and hedging to “shield units from open areas”.

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