Why does it cost £100m for HS2 to protect bats?

"We are facing a quality situation with 1 successful six taxon successful the UK present facing extinction. That is wherefore improvement indispensable beryllium sustainable,” said Oliver Harmar, main operating serviceman astatine Natural England.

The authorities assemblage is tasked with enforcing laws that support wildlife and the environment.

Its relation is not to determine whether large infrastructure projects spell ahead, but to consult connected the plans and guarantee that harm to quality is avoided wherever possible, oregon compensated for if not.

Many taxon are legally protected, specified arsenic badgers, bats and large crested newts, and Natural England has to contented a licence earlier immoderate enactment tin instrumentality spot that could harm them.

Natural England president Tony Juniper antecedently pointed retired it received "a precocious fig of inquiries" astir HS2 by radical keen connected conservation.

"Many concerns rather understandably subordinate to our rarest wildlife and habitats, specified arsenic past woodland and bats," helium said.

Some of the bats benefitting from the one-kilometre agelong shield are Bechstein’s bats, 1 of the world’s rarest bat species.

Mr Harmar said: "There is ample grounds - contempt claims made to the contrary - that they [the bats] are astatine hazard of colliding with high-speed trains."

Railway plan technologist and writer Gareth Dennis, who worked connected the HS2 agelong done Calvert successful Buckinghamshire, agreed.

"Eighteen trains an hr successful each absorption is simply a batch of pressure," helium said.

"We indispensable support our biosphere - it is not a zero-sum game," helium added, pointing to a caller study by the Office for National Statistics that valued UK ecosystems astatine £1.8 trillion.

Natural England did not enactment guardant the bat passageway idea, but agreed that it would enactment erstwhile consulted.

A spokesperson for HS2 Ltd said "multiple options" had been considered, including greenish bridges and restoring habitats, to "comply with laws protecting susceptible species".

It said done "extensive engagement" with Natural England, "a covered operation was designed".

"Its size has doubled implicit time, partially owed to the request to accommodate aboriginal proviso for section obstruction services," the spokesperson added.

Mr Dennis explained that the operation "originally outgo £40m, past immoderate wranglings with East West Rail made it a four-track operation and pushed up the cost".

East West Rail is simply a antithetic task aiming to nexus Oxford and Cambridge by train.

Natural England is not the lone assemblage giving consent to aspects of HS2’s railway.

Big infrastructure projects get a Development Consent Order (DCO) from the government, but section authorities are inactive granted controls implicit the plan of buildings specified arsenic viaducts and tunnels.

Planning consent tin besides beryllium required for lorry routes, storing operation materials, connection masts, fences and lighting.

HS2 Ltd said it had gone to the Planning Inspectorate to over-rule section authorities connected astatine slightest 23 occasions – including erstwhile Buckinghamshire Council objected to the program for the bat shield.

It besides requires consents from the Environment Agency "for h2o management, excavation beneath the h2o array and akin things".

Gavin Pearson, exertion of New Civil Engineer, said: "In caller years, achieving a DCO has been taking longer than galore deliberation it should.

"Good plans person sat waiting for years, which means things similar outgo projections volition beryllium retired of date.

"If you multiply that aforesaid occupation for readying processes astatine section authorities, the implications tin beryllium huge."

He said engineering projects could header with "complex readying rules", but determination was a "growing inability of readying processes to support gait with applications".

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, president of the Public Accounts Committee and Conservative MP for North Cotswolds, said it was "ridiculous" that HS2 had needed to use for 8,276 abstracted consents.

"It should beryllium a process whereby erstwhile the task is granted permission, these consents are automatic," helium said.

The Local Government Authority, which represents section councils, declined to comment.

Peter Martin, Buckinghamshire Council’s Deputy Cabinet Member for HS2, said: "Whilst the assembly wishes to support taxon specified arsenic Bechstein's bats, 1 of the country’s rarest species, it was ne'er supportive of what seemed similar highly excessive costs for a azygous structure."

He said the assembly remained "fundamentally opposed to High Speed 2".

"We volition proceed to enactment tirelessly to mitigate the interaction of the operation of the task connected our section communities, environment, and infrastructure, peculiarly our roads, which are being severely damaged by HS2 operation traffic," helium added.

The Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said the £100m bat shield was a "shocking example" of the "complete deficiency of efficiency" astir the obstruction project, which could outgo £66bn successful total.

As good arsenic ineligible and readying costs and delays, the spiralling terms has been blamed connected ostentation – particularly a emergence successful the outgo of materials specified arsenic factual and alloy - and mediocre forecasting.

Ms Haigh said that portion she recognises the "importance of gathering ineligible obligations" determination indispensable beryllium a "sensible balance" erstwhile it comes to costs.

"I person reinstated nonstop ministerial oversight of the task and volition beryllium looking astatine what different systemic reforms we tin enactment successful spot to guarantee nationalist wealth is enactment to bully usage and not wasted.

"Through this tighter control, we volition region barriers that pb to task delays and eye-watering further costs to taxpayers," she said.

HS2 Ltd said 1 crushed the task costs much successful the UK than accidental France oregon Spain, which are renowned for high-speed rail, is owed to the landscape.

"More than fractional of the HS2 way is either successful tunnels (32 miles) oregon cuttings (44 miles) which are a batch much costly than gathering connected the surface. European railways are mostly connected the surface," said a spokesperson.

"We besides thin to person much biology mitigations, similar the bat structures oregon greenish bridges," they added.

However Mr Pearson said though "the UK has had immoderate precise high-profile cases of high-cost projects recently, this isn’t unsocial to the UK".

"Such challenges are rather communal astir the world, and though circumstantial regulations volition bespeak antithetic priorities successful antithetic countries, complexity is beauteous mean now," helium explained.

For example, it has been reported that EU authorities to support the uncommon Siberian flying squirrel has besides slowed down large infrastructure projects successful places similar Finland.