Plans to demolish a dilapidated Bangor hospital are to be looked at again after it was found bats were unlikely to be roosting there.
In March, an application had sought permission to raze the former Ysbyty Minffordd , amid fears the site was also being used for prostitution and drug taking.
But Gwynedd Council planners, following concerns raised by Natural Resources Wales (NRW), put the brakes on the planned demolition to allow a new study to determine if bats were living in the derelict buildings.
A revised application has landed on the desks of the planning department this week, however, with a specialist study determining that bats were unlikely to be living within the confines of the largely derelict structures.
Officers being unable to access many sections due to their poor condition, but despite this the report also recommends that bat boxes are installed on nearby trees before demolition starts, while any work should not take place during their traditional hibernation period of November to March.
“Although there is no evidence of the structures being used for hibernation,
species such as pipistrelle and brown-long eared bats will often hibernate in crevices in structures and, as such, would be particularly vulnerable to winter demolition works,” notes the report.
“Bat boxes will be installed on adjacent trees prior to the demolition of the buildings. This should include all-season bat boxes or separate hibernation and summer roost types.
“All buildings will be inspected by a bat licensed ecologist prior to demolition. Where bats, or evidence of bats, are found then works would need to stop and a derogation licence from NRW applied for.
“If no bats are found, any remaining potential roost features, including cracks and crevices, will then be carefully demolished under ecological supervision. This would involve stripping back building materials and checking at each stage until such time that all potential roost features have become exposed.
“Any bats which become exposed and are vulnerable would be removed by the licensed bat worker (licensed to handle bats in emergency situations) with gloved hands or a hand net.
“The bat would be placed in a draw-string cloth bag and removed to the bat boxes installed prior to demolition of the buildings.”
The hospital, which has been closed for over a decade, was bought by Loughborough-based Rushcliffe Care Ltd who in 2011 revealed plans to convert it into a 36-bed specialist care facility, creating around 100 jobs.
The 19th Century building remains untouched, however, having been placed on the market since 2017 with a £400,000 asking price with the approved planning permission having now expired.
The applicants had expected to carry out the demolition on April 30, but delays in obtaining the necessary permission has pushed this back.
The planning statement, put together following feedback from North Wales Police and the fire service’s Arson Reduction Team, reported that the site was being used by youths from as far away as Holywell and that the buildings were “known to be a meeting place” with police “very concerned that drug dealers were targeting them.”
The police had also identified the former hospital as “being used for prostitution” with used needles also being found and homeless people using the site despite it being declared unsafe.
Originally built in 1895, in 1948 it became a convalescent home before closing in 1984 following the opening of Gwynedd and Anglesey’s main hospital, Ysbyty Gwynedd.
Between 1988 and its closure in 2006, the hospital served as a psychiatric unit for elderly patients until being put up for sale in 2009 by the then North West Wales NHS Trust.
Its expected that Gwynedd Council will make a decision over the coming weeks.
