Bat roosts bring work on homes to a screeching halt

STOCKPORT council has hit the brakes on a £250m regeneration project to decide its next steps after bat roosts were discovered on land earmarked for development.

- BY DECLAN CAREY Local Democracy Reporter

A CGI of the Stockport 8 housing project

(Stockport council)

The Stockport 8 scheme was approved by council planners last year to build a new neighbourhood with 1,300 homes next to the town’s iconic viaduct arches.

It was approved on condition that bat surveys would take place in one of the buildings known as the former Comfortable Gill pub, and that the scheme would return to the council's planning committee if bats were found.

Since then surveys revealed there were no bats in the former pub, but four bat roosts were discovered in the Lundy building on plot 2 of the plans, with up to five bats thought to be living there.