Arrest threat after reports bats set up in former church
By Nick Evans
This is Lancashire (UK)
ANYONE who enters a former baptist church is being threatened with arrest after reports that endangered bats were living in the building.
Police have pledged to keep round-the-clock surveillance of Waterbarn Baptist Church, Stacksteads, until a bat survey is carried out.
Earlier this year the church was sold to developers who plan to turn it into a community theatre.
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Worshippers of the baptist church still meet in a school room at the back of a church.
Reverend David Livermore said neither he nor his congregation had seen any bats and that he wanted the police to clarify whether their order also banned parishioners from entering the building.
The order - made under the Wildlife and Countryside Act - is explained in a letter posted on the door of the chapel Police are now trying to arrange a meeting with the owners so they carry out a bat survey.
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