Money spent on bat protection measures for North Hykeham Relief Road
Lincolnshire County Council leader Sean Matthews says the council paid for measures despite not wanting to
A council leader has revealed that the authority has paid for bat protection measures for the North Hykeham Relief Road, despite previously saying he didn’t want this to happen.
Lincolnshire County Council leader Sean Matthews (Reform UK – Tattershall Castle) told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the authority has spent money on the measures to avoid delaying the project.
The North Hykeham Relief Road will link the A46 Pennells Roundabout to the Lincoln Eastern Bypass, creating a complete ring road around the city.
The project came under scrutiny in September last year over the additional costs needed to protect bats when the road is built, which was then projected to be about £4.3million.
Natural England said it has identified a rare breed of bat, the barbastelle bat, in the project’s route.
It said that a ‘bat bridge’ must be put in place on a grassed-over bridge near the South Hykeham section of the road to ensure that the bats don’t fly into traffic.
But Coun Matthews previously said he didn’t want to pay £4 million for the measures but would do so if it saves the county council extra costs in delays in completing the relief road.
At a highways and transport scrutiny committee meeting on Monday, March 16, Coun Richard Davies (Conservative – Grantham West) asked whether the bat protection measures had been included in the project.
He said: “Back in September last year Coun (Sean) Matthews said, when describing that bat bridge and bat tunnels, as nonsense and said taxpayers will not pay.
“Could you confirm for the North Hykeham Relief Road, are there bat tunnels and bat bridges going in and is the tax payer in fact going to pay?”
Sam Edwards, head of highways infrastructure and laboratory services, said that this was the case.
He added: “So, the scheme as part of the planning application included those measures and they continue to include the measures in order to enact the planning permission to build the scheme.
“What I would also identify is that the funding towards the scheme comes from a mixture of county council funding but the majority comes from DfT (Department for Transport) grant funding towards the scheme.”
After the meeting, Coun Matthews confirmed that the authority has paid for the bat protection measures to be put in place
He said: “The government has given us £110 million towards North Hykeham Relief Road, but I’ve said all along, and I still believe that taxpayers’ money – local or national – should not be paying for these bat bridges and tunnels.
“These were agreed by the previous administration of the council, and it’s clear the only way to remove them would involve delaying the project, which we’re not prepared to do. The costs of a delay like that would be far more than these bat measures.
“We’ve officially broken ground on the project this week, and I want to see it completed as quickly as possible, so the city and county can start feeling the benefits.”
A spokesperson for the county council said that the bat protection measures have already been budgeted for and “have not created an additional cost to the project.”
The project is expected to cost between £203 million and £218 million and is due to be completed by May 2029.
Work on the relief road officially began on Tuesday, March 17, at a ‘groundbreaking ceremony’ near Pennells Roundabout.
The government provided £110 million of funding and the remaining £90 million will be paid for by the county council.