Bellway housebuilders fined £600,000 for destroying bat roost in south London

Court hands firm largest ever wildlife crime fine after it admits demolishing site in Woolwich

A building firm that carried out demolition work at a site known to be inhabited by bats has been handed a 600,000 fine, the largest ever issued by a court for a wildlife crime, according to police.

Bellway, the housebuilders, admitted damaging or destroying a breeding site or resting place in Artillery Place, Greenwich, south-east London, in 2018, where soprano pipistrelle bats had been documented the previous year.