Owls and bats delay hotel plan
Published on 06/10/2006
The Cumberland News
CONCERNS over bats and barn owls have delayed a planning application for the conversion of the Tarn End Hotel at Talkin Tarn, near Brampton.
Cumbria County Council, which wants to sell the sandstone building, has applied for consent to extend and convert it into eight holiday apartments. The application went before Carlisle city councillors last Friday. But they put off making a decision to give English Nature and Cumbria Wildlife Trust time to comment on a consultants’ bat and barn owl survey.
A previous survey found evidence of the creatures but the survey was carried out in winter when bats hibernate and, according to planning officers, was “not able to adequately assess the extent of the usage by these speciesâ€