Lord Marlesford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Marlesford on 2016-04-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what academic studies have been conducted into the financial case for bat bridges over roads, and what assessment they have made of the conclusions of those studies.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Highways England are not aware of any studies conducted into the financial case for bat bridges. Work in 2015 undertaken by Leeds University, on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), did look at the effectiveness of bat bridges.

Highways England have reviewed the study and met with Natural England and DEFRA to discuss the conclusions of the report.

While the conclusions of the Leeds University work are based on limited sample size, the authors conclude that the effectiveness of crossing structures increases with their size, connectivity and similarity to natural features. They also conclude that wire bat bridges do not provide effective mitigation.