Asylum camp plans plunged into chaos – by bats, badgers and nice crested newts

Proposals to house up to 1,256 asylum seekers in the village of Piddington may have been scuppered after the site was found to be teeming with wildlife

Plans for a controversial migrant camp face being kicked into the long grass – by bats, badgers and great crested newts.

Locals were over the moon when it was revealed proposals to house up to 1,256 asylum seekers in Piddington, Oxon, have been plunged into chaos after the site was found to be teeming with wildlife.

Hours after experts said protected great crested newts had been spotted at the site it was discovered one of the world’s rarest bats had shown up there too.

Nightingales, badgers and an otter have also been recorded in and around the former military garrison the Home Office plans to convert into a camp. The creature community means any conversion plans will at least be severely delayed – and could be scuppered altogether.

The bats pose a particular problem for the Government as they are on the endangered species red list and so rare that last year Norfolk County Council scrapped a proposed £274m road – the Norwich Western Link – after a colony was found along the route.

The bats’ protected status means the Home Office will have to commission special surveys to establish the size and nature of any colony.

Experts said that could not be completed until after the bats come out of hibernation.

That is set to start in the next six weeks and could continue until next spring.

If bats are found the Home Office will have to apply for a licence to continue building work from Natural England.

A licence will only be granted if it can avoid any disturbance to their habitat or can show that the bats can be safely transferred to an alternative location.

The news came as a huge relief to Piddington residents who on Wednesday voted 285 to 26 in a referendum to leave the UK and ‘pursue self-determination’ as an independent state in protest against the asylum plans.

A report for campaign group Wrong Plan, Wrong Site, which has started legal proceedings to block the asylum move, said: “The presence of barbastelles has the specific legal weight required to entirely halt, delay or force the withdrawal of a major planning application.

“If you have access to data showing barbastelle activity like static detector logs with distinct 32kHz, this single piece of evidence is a massive lever.

“It literally forces the developer to halt any planned demolition of the sheds or clearing the boundary vegetation until full multi-season dusk and dawn emergency surveys are performed specifically for this species.”

The bats were detected with echo location equipment by Pedro Collins, an ecologist who was a biodiversity officer with the Environment Agency for more than 20 years.

They recorded on video and audio the presence of barbastelle bats on the site at Piddington on September 7 and 10, detecting their distinctive ‘short, hard smacks and pulses’ at 32 kHz.

Pedro said he was ‘pretty much 100%’ certain they had detected barbastelle bats because of the frequency and highly distinct sounds.

“It could put back any developments for quite a considerable time,” he said.

The ecological report to which he contributed states: “If barbastelle bats have been confirmed present on the site, the entire legal, ecological and logistical landscape of the crown development proposal shifts dramatically.

“The presence of a barbastelle elevates the site’s importance from a standard local level to national and European importance.

“Barbastelles are one of the rarest mammals in the UK.”

Barbastelles, which weigh up to 13g and have a wingspan of up to 11in, are red-listed as a threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the UK Mammal Society.

They specialise in eating small moths and seek out roosts in cracks in trees in areas of high humidity, according to the Bat Conservation Trust.

However they have also targeted large unheated disused buildings such as barracks where they hide in concrete or metal nooks and crannies.

Zoologist Dr Claire Brenner has identified at least five different protected wildlife species around the site – including the bats and great crested newts.

They are a European Protected Species under UK law, forcing developers to stop work if there is evidence of their presence.

Dr Brenner said Home Office research into the proposed camp was ‘not fit for purpose’.

She said it had incorrectly consulted the Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes centre which only holds records for a small percentage of the site.

“If the Secretary of State determines this application with this materially incomplete information, that’s open to legal challenge,” she said.

“If they proceed to work on the site without a licence, then potentially it’s a wildlife crime.”

Brits welcomed the news on social media.

One wag wrote: “NewBats Inc…orders now being taken small, medium or large colony, sale or hire and end of project removal service.”

Another said: “Burnham Newt-ered and driven batty.”

One more said: “Thank God for the newts – they’ve got more about them than the wets at the Home Office “

A Home Office spokesman said: “Appropriate surveys have been carried out, taking into account the seasonal behaviour of different animal species.

“It has already been concluded the proposal is unlikely to have a significant impact on the environment.”

Housing, communities and local government secretary Angela Rayner, who is involved in pushing through the asylum project, has previously said wildlife should not come at the expense of home-building.

In 2024, when she was housing secretary and deputy PM to Andy Burnham’s predecessor Sir Keir Starmer, she declared: “We can’t have a situation where newts are more protected than people who desperately need housing.

“What we need is a process which says ‘protect nature and wildlife but not at the expense of us building the houses’.”