Overview
- Hammond filed planning documents last month to add a padel court, a car showroom and to convert a barn at his Georgian manor near Abergavenny.
- A bat survey published Thursday found eight species using the 21-acre estate, including common pipistrelle, soprano pipistrelle and brown long-eared bats.
- Surveyors warned that carrying out work on the barn without mitigation risks disturbing or losing bat roosts and that a licence will be legally required.
- A public consultation on the application is open until 16 September and the need for a protected-species licence and mitigation measures could delay the barn conversion and the planned showroom for his roughly 30 vintage cars.
- Bats are fully protected under UK law so Natural Resources Wales will assess any licence application and proposed mitigation, which can include timing restrictions, created roosts or bat-friendly design changes to limit harm to colonies.