Recently when BAE Systems began investigations into the development of the final phase of the Chorley Royal Ordnance Factory in Lancashire, environmental and ecological surveys were deemed to be an integral part of the planning application. The proposed development entailed both demolition and decontamination work on site.
The 58 hectare Chorley site was an operational munitions factory, with a number of buildings still in use. The scope of the work included both internal and external bat surveys of the disused buildings, as well as the surrounding trees, plus dawn and dusk surveys of bat activity around the ponds. Great Crested Newt and amphibian surveys were required for six ponds and a reservoir, as well as a pond biodiversity survey and a water vole survey on the streams and waterways within the site. A large number of specialists with a wide range of skills and knowledge were deployed to conduct this work.
Following an initial survey and assessment one of the buildings was positively identified as containing a bat maternity roost and several others contained evidence of significant bat activity. The species and population numbers were assessed by licensed bat workers over a number of dawn and dusk surveys. Mitigation recommendations included turning one of the old buildings on site into a permanent bat house and integrating an artificial roost into the overall development plans.
Having access to a wide range of licensed protected species specialists, ADAS was able to conduct the numerous detailed surveys required within a relatively short time scale to provide realistic and workable mitigation proposals that could be integrated into the overall development with minimum impact, to the satisfaction of all stakeholders