A COLONY of bats has caused a last-minute problem for a planning application that was set to be approved.
A local resident wanted to clear a 100-year-old orchard and build seven houses off New Road, Staincross.
Officers recommended permission be granted but at this week’s meeting of the council’s planning board Coun John Parkinson asked for it to be deferred for a site visit because bats, a protected species, were reported to be roosting in the orchard.
A silver birch tree not shown in the planning application has already been chopped down.
The day after it was felled resident Sally Purseglove-Stevens was horrified when her cat brought a bat into the house.
On the planning report put to councillors there was no mention of bats and the officers from the Environment Agency did not raise any concerns.
