Firm fined record £ 600k for destroying bat roost

A HOUSEBUILDER that demolished a site inhabited by bats has been told to pay £ 600,000 – a record fine for a wildlife crime.

Bellway Homes admitted damaging or destroying the location in Artillery Place, Greenwich, South- east London, in 2018. The soprano pipistrelle species had been documented there the previous year.

All bats are protected and the company was also ordered to pay costs of £ 30,000.

Bellway Homes also agreed to make a £ 20,000 donation to the Bat Conservation Trust, the Metropolitan Police said.

The force said the fine at Woolwich Crown Court was the largest issued for a wildlife crime. Inspector David Hawtin praised officers Sergeant Simon Henderson and PC Giles Balestrini in the complex investigation.

He said: “With the expert assistance of colleagues from specialist units within the Met, the officers constructed evidence to prove that the company had committed an offence by carrying out work at a site where bats were known to inhabit.”

Inspector Hawtin added that the case “reinforces the message that this legislation is there for a reason”.

Bellway had been told it needed a protected species licence.