Wildlife Circus

23/01636/FUL The conversion and change of use of the Pumphouse building.  The planning file is disappointing and inaccurate: there has been no correspondence from the consultants to the London Bat Group inbox. I did contact them about the Bat Survey last year - but there was little interest in the information relayed - I am the trainer for the London Bat Group. The original mitigation strategy for the bat roost is not being applied to this application. The site has been validated as  Open Mosaic Habitat by the University of East London. The planting proposed around the wharf and pumping station will have an impact on the OMH. This is because invasive species and species not characteristic of the plant community are included with the proposal. There is reptile interest  at the wharf and a mitigation strategy was drawn up in 2018 for an application that falls under Elmbridge council see below.

The Planning Application: The conversion and change of use of the former Pump House building and associated land to Class E(g)(i) office use; and ancillary works including landscaping publicaccess.kingston.gov.uk   The Pump House:  links This the largest structure at Seething Wells, and is designated a Building of Townscape Merit. An application for statutory listed failed during 2001.   It has a pyramidal slate roof, used by roosting bats from time to time. There is no roof void and the slates are backed by wooden planks and plasterboard. Internally, there was one main room, partitioned into 6 small rooms and a larger operational area, now stripped out.    There is a deep shaft containing two wells below the building and four wells between the building and the Portsmouth Road. In the literature they are known as’ deep wells’ and sometimes ‘deep chambers’ of which there are 24 on site.    The Ecology report states that the building 'has no hibernation...