Bats need home before new hospital built

♦ The building of a £9million NHS community hospital has been delayed by a colony of bats.

Work cannot start on demolishing the existing Norwich Community Hospital, which is due to be replaced by a five-storey building, until the animals are found a new home.

Surveys by wildlife experts revealed several species, including soprano pipistrelles, common and brown long-eared bats, live on the site.

Many of the bats are using lofts in the old buildings as a home. Their presence meant that Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust needed planning permission to build a special bat roost to provide a fully protected home for the animals before demolition can start.