Bats halt bridge demolition
The demolition of a bridge in Denbighshire has been halted after a colony of bats was discovered.
Plans were in motion for the demolition of the Afon Clwyd Bridge at Pontruffudd near Ruthin but the work has had to be put on hold after the Clwyd Bat Group reported that a bat colony had been discovered.
Permission had been given for the bridge to be pulled down as a permitted development and demolition work had begun. However, the project will now have to be given the go-ahead again.
Full planning permission will now be required if the bridge is to be demolished, although the Government-owned firm which the bridge belongs to is expected to push ahead with an application. Demolition contractors are leaving the site for the time being.
A council spokeswoman told the BBC, "The bats issue, and planning permission, are related. The presence of a protected species is one of the reasons the owners would need planning permission."
She added that since the original demolition approval had been given, the law had changed and planning permission would probably have been required anyway, even if the bats hadn’t been discovered.
