This type of survey is commonly requested by the council for small scale renovation and extension projects on residential properties, or as part of a larger Preliminary Ecological Appraisal. The assessment can be undertaken year-round and assesses structure(s) for suitability to support roosting bats and may recommend further bat surveys to determine presence or likely absence of protected species.
If bats are found to be present, a mitigation and compensation scheme will be produced considering the impacts of the proposals and may result in the need for a Mitigation Licence applied for and granted by Natural England to allow the works to proceed.
Final costs in all cases will depend on the size, layout, and ecological complexity of the site.
Where Ordnance Survey (OS) mapping is required for use within reports or as a base for survey work, this will be charged separately. Costs typically range from:
Most local authority planning departments require the inclusion of historic ecological records within submitted reports.
We can obtain this data on your behalf from the relevant records centre. This is a third-party paid service which we manage, analyse, and incorporate into your report where relevant.
While this data is not mandatory, omitting it at the outset may lead to delays if it is later requested during the planning process. We therefore recommend considering it early to help streamline your application.
Ideally, we allow 30 – 40 days to complete both survey work and reporting. However, we understand that project deadlines don’t always allow for this, and we will always do our best to accommodate shorter timescales where capacity permits.
The most important factor for us is your planning submission date, as this ultimately guides the programme. If we have flexibility in our schedule, we will aim to deliver sooner – and during quieter periods, it’s not uncommon for us to be on site within a week of instruction.
Yes, but there are two stages to this. A Preliminary Roost Assessment as part of a PEA or a standalone document which assesses the suitability of a building or tree to support roosting bats. The preliminary survey can be undertaken year round by a suitably qualified ecologist and will be graded as having negligible, low, moderate, high suitability to support bats or as a confirmed roost if evidence of bats is found.
The grading of the building dictates the likelihood of bat presence, however if bats are found to be present the survey effort should be sufficient to able characterisation of the roost type ( Breeding, hibernation, summer day roost etc) to determine the impacts to bats.
Bat surveys are constrained by season, and certain roost types need to be surveyed at certain times of year, so if required these need to be undertaken as soon as possible to prevent delays as bats cannot be surveyed over the winter period.
