Farm says they'll build new home for bats if barn conversion's granted
A north Dorset farm wants to convert two barns into a holiday home, but they're currently occupied by protected bats
A north Dorset farm is planning to put up a new building for bats – allowing the conversion of existing stone barns to a home.
The owners of Yew Tree Farm at Stour Row near Shaftesbury want to convert two existing barns into a two-bed holiday home and to do so are also asking to put up a new, detached, bat roost building as a new home for the protected creatures.
Both grey and brown long-eared bats and pipistrelle bats have been found on the site – according to an ecologist.
A report to Dorset Council as part of the request for planning permission suggests that the compensatory bat roost building will have to be completed before works on the conversion of the barns begin – with no building work to take place between November and February.
The bat house is proposed to be 6x4m at a height of just under 5m with two gable ends with the construction supervised by a qualified bat ecologist – to be built as close to the existing barns as possible and with access points to replicate the features of the existing barns.