Plans for nearly 300 homes could put one of Wales’ most important bat roosts at risk

Twm Owen, Local Democracy Reporter

A proposal to allocate land for nearly 300 homes could put at risk one of Wales’ most important bat roosts.

The inclusion of an 11 hectare site in a proposed development plan has been opposed by environmental regulator Natural Resources Wales (NRW) due uncertainties on the impact on a protected bat roost.

The land at Leasbrook, Monmouth has been earmarked as suitable for potential development of up to 270 houses in Monmouthshire County Council’s replacement local development plan that identifies potential new housing sites across the county.

Public hearings examining the council’s proposed planning blueprint through to 2033 have been continuing this week with independent inspectors, who are examining the plan, hearing from objectors in online meetings.

On Tuesday, October 6 concerns over sites in Monmouth were presented with some objectors gathered at a Baptist Church in the town to listen to and address the hearing.

Inspectors Claire MacFarlane and Julie de-Courcey will hear objections to proposed sites at Mounton Road, Chepstow as well as former Ministry of Defence land at Caerwent on Wednesday, October 7.

They will also consider allocation for employment use at Newhouse Farm Industrial Estate and use of land near Piercefield Public House, St Arvans.

Proposed allocation for sites for up to 700 homes east of Caldicot and north of Portskewett will be considered on Thursday, October 8.

At Tuesday’s hearing the council said it accepted “some scientific uncertainty around” the contribution made by Leasbrook site in Monmouth to the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Bat Sites Special Area of Conservation (SAC) but said it was its view that doesn’t indicate an adverse effect as it considers only a small area of the bats’ foraging zone would be lost.

Council officials, and a representative for the landowner who has put the site forward, told the hearing t didn’t accept NRW had identified a “reasonable scientific doubt”.

Overrule objections

Monmouthshire council ecologist Kate Stinchcombe said case law confirms the council is entitled, with reasons, to overrule NRW’s objections.

She said there was a lack of evidence the site is “critical” to the landscape supporting the nearby Newton Court stable block that has the highest form of protection as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its maternity bat roots of the endangered Greater and Lesser horseshoe bats.

She said NRW hasn’t had a “clear plan” for the site and said: “There is an 18-year-old core management plan based on maintaining a site of 80 bats. We now have a population of 317 Greater horseshoe bats at that site.”

Balancing protection and need

Council director Craig O’Connor said there is no mechanism for the council to ensure a site remains in use as grazing land but inclusion as a development site would allow it require mitigations are in place and balance protections with the need for affordable housing.

Sam Dyer, NRW’s national specialist for bats, said the fields are crucial to the protected area and the nearby stable block and its juvenile population, which he said is already impacted by other factors that appear to have stalled its growth.

Young bats rely heavily on dung beetles produced by cattle grazed land, said Mr Dyer, and the loss of that land at Leabrook would be significant as it is closer to the roost for juveniles.

He also said while the population at Newtown Court had grown it was at a lower rate than other areas.

He said: “Compared to regions such as Pembrokeshire the rise is quite small the numbers there are now up to three times found at Newton Court. Obviously it is coping with something sub optimal already.”

Opposition 

Monmouth-based campaigner Jonty Pearce said the Dixton Bat Project and Gwent Wildlife Trust and three bat experts have opposed the inclusion of the site in the plan.

He said Newton Court is one of only five known maternity roosts in Wales and the only one in Monmouthshire and a Freedom of Information request he’d made had shown the population last year was 330, suggesting there has already been a decline.

Mr Pearce said Newton Court is “one of the most important population of Greater horseshoe bats in Britain” and said while the species was once widespread across Britain and northern Europe it is now considered extinct or extremely rare in countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and parts of Germany.

Inspector Ms MacFarlane said the “matter of uncertainty” is something she would have to determine as part of her examination of the plan, on behalf of Welsh Government body Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW), to determine if it is “sound” and can be adopted as the council’s planning policy through to 2033.

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