Safe haven tunnels to protect colony of rare bats from traffic dangers will cost £4m

A COLONY of rare bats is to be granted safe passage underneath a new road being built – at a cost of £4million.

The new route, aiming to ease congestion around the village of West Ashton, Wilts, will be raised 39in so that special tunnels can be built underneath for the bats to use. It comes in the wake of concerns being raised by the Wildlife Trust after it said it had not been consulted about the road.

Horace Prickett, a councillor, said: “Raising the road is the only way we can escape the clamour of destroying this rare breed of bat.

“It’s one of the biggest colonies of Bechstein’s bats in the world and they commonly fly between here and the Box Tunnel. By raising the road, it means tunnels can be put in underneath which will allow the bats to fly through on their natural route, instead of having to risk being hit by cars.”

The plan raised eyebrows as the amendment to the road’s original design will result in the cost of the project rising to up to £11million.

Some have questioned the decision at a time when Wiltshire council is imposing stringent spending cuts.

Graham Payne, another councillor, said: “It’s a tremendous amount of money, especially when we are having to make cuts across parts of the council’s front line services. What comes first – people or bats?” But Wiltshire Council said the tunnels would “demonstrate how ecological interests can be accommodated without detriment to the species concerned”.

According to the Bat Conservation Trust, Bechstein’s bats are rare treedwelling creatures, mostly associated with old-growth broadleaved woodland, with around 1,500 examples left in the UK. A few individuals are found in underground sites during hibernation, but it is likely that most roost in trees all year, it added.

They feed on invertebrates including spiders and resting day-flying insects picked from branches and leaves.