A small site but a big hitter! The home of a professional tennis coach, the proposed floodlighting of an existing private tennis court had caused the local authority’s ecologist such concern that a refusal of planning permission had been previously issued, on the grounds of disruption to the protected flightpaths of rare bats.
Recommended by another client, Wessex Planning Ltd analysed the previous reasons for refusal, working with a lighting engineer to compile a justification for a new scheme. Using existing knowledge and experience of the Habitats Regulations to negate the need for a formal ecological assessment, retractable floodlights with a maximum height of 8m were agreed, alongside other bat and neighbour-friendly amendments. In just a few weeks, the previous reasons for refusal were overturned with a usable permission granted.
The guidance document from the Bat Conservation Trust is available here: Bat-Interim-Guidance-Artificial-Lighting.pdf
