The brief: 

Johns Associates were commissioned to undertake an Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA) of the proposed Applied Learning Centre and All-Weather Pitch at Ralph Allen School in Combe Down, Bath.

Our role:

• We completed a desk study, extended Phase 1 Habitat Survey and bat activity survey
• The bat survey identified that very small numbers of greater and lesser horseshoe bats were foraging / commuting within the Site
• The bats were roosting in disused mine workings in the surrounding local landscape and local Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI)
• Development proposals included planting scattered trees to provide additional commuting routes between habitat areas
• The creation of new grassland areas, flowering plants and shrub planting increased the areas available to foraging bats
• Other proposals included the provision of bat boxes
• Johns Associates also advised on the lighting of the new all-weather pitch

The outcome: 

We worked with the client from the instigation of the project and through design found solutions to potential problems before they arose.  We demonstrated that there was no need for a potentially expensive and time consuming EPS license application whilst ensuring commuting bats were catered for with additional tree planting.