Battle against £4m bat bridge
Paying over £4m to protect the habitat of a rare breed of bat is ‘ridiculous’ according to the leader of Lincolnshire County Council.
Cllr Sean Matthews has said he is determined to fight taxpayers having to foot the bill for protection measures which have helped push up the costs of the proposed North Hykeham Relief Road (below) – but not at any price.
As previously reported by Hello Lincoln the discovery of barbastelle bats was partly responsible for the relief road’s costs from between £180m and £208m to between £203m and £218m.
As a result, a fully grassed-over bridge near the South Hykeham section of the relief must be built to cater for the bats’ flight path. In addition, a bat tunnel at Somerton Gate Lane and a number of bat ‘hop-overs’ have been added to the scheme, which will offer space for the bats to cross the relief road unaffected by moving vehicles. The cost of these measures was estimated at £4.3m.
Cllr Matthews said: “We are well underway in our fight against having Lincolnshire taxpayers foot the bill for these ridiculous bat bridges and tunnels. I have been in touch with Natural England about this and my conversation with them is still ongoing.
“I’ve asked them, directly, whether or not Natural England would have objected to our plans if our officers hadn’t included bat mitigation. We’re still waiting on a response to this.
“I will also be writing to the Prime Minister about the absurdity of this situation and how we can get this sorted. I’m confident Government will be willing to help, seeing as the cabinet has also backed removing this type of costly red tape for developers.
“I want to make something perfectly clear. Using £4 million of taxpayers’ money on bat bridges and tunnels is an absolute farce, and I am 100% against paying this extortionate amount.
“Yes, there is a scenario where the cost of delaying things ends up costing more than we’d save continuing to fight this. That absolutely does not mean I’ve resigned to paying this £4 million. I will continue doing everything I can, for as long as I can, to save taxpayer money on this scheme.
“What I can say for certain is that construction of the relief road will start in early 2026.”
Preliminary on-site works are due to start on-site during w/c 22nd September, with main construction expected to start in February 2026.
The North Hykeham Relief Road project will form the final section of Lincoln’s ring road, with a new dual carriageway built linking the A46 Pennells Roundabout to the Lincoln Eastern Bypass.
As part of the project, new roundabouts would be built at South Hykeham Road, Brant Road and Grantham Road. A number of bridges would also be constructed, including at Station Road and over the River Witham.
The council is also challenging an unexpected £3.5m increase in Anglian Water fees to divert the schemes underground water and drainage infrastructure but had counted the revised costs in its new projections.
Top picture by Eric Medard
