A465 Heads of the Valley dualling: Section 1 Abergavenny to Gilwern - Bat mitigation plan
The project relates to the environmental management of a 6km long on-line highway improvement of Section 1 of the A465 Heads of the Valleys road in South Wales, within the Brecon Beacons National Park.
It affects two Special Areas of Conservation (SAC's) designated under the European Union Natura 2000 programme. One is the Usk Bat Sites SAC which contains 5% of the Lesser Horseshoe Bat population of the UK.
Following an Appropriate Assessment, the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) were concerned that the integrity of the SAC would be affected. Construction works only commenced by Ministerial approval through the signing of an Imperative Reason of Overriding Public Interest (IROPI).
The TACP team developed a bat monitoring plan to collect sufficient data to ensure that CCW was convinced that the integrity of the SAC was not compromised by the construction works and that bat numbers were maintained.
| Location | Wales |
| Type of scheme | Biodiversity protection |
| Size | 6 km |
| Lead landscape architect | TACP |
| Outline brief | To develop, implement and monitor the preformance of a Bat Mitigation Plan to allow a strategic highway project with 22 million vehicle movements to proceed in a Special Area of Conservation subject to the highest European Union environmental legislation. |
| Client | Transport and Strategic Regeneration Welsh Assembly Government |
| Contract value | £750, 000 |
| Completion date | March 2009 |
| Project team | Environmental Consultants, Landscape architects and Managers: TCAP Engineer: Gifford |
| Awards | Commended LI Awards 2009 Landscape Sciences |
Technical summary |
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| Materials | Use of cargo netting to aid echo location to form an overbridge. A concrete underpass was also built with new planting to divert bat populations away from the road. |
| Planting | Schedule feathered trees: height 200-250cm: Alnus glutinosa; Fraxinus excelsior; Quercus robur. |
| Other technical details | Bat mitigation habitat design: Areas were designed to emulate a sustainable and viable bat habitat, including the creation of a series of soil scrapes to produce water holding depressions; minor brook diversion of Baiden Brook and formation of a weit system; use of indigenous shrub and tree planting; provision of wildflower areas; and overall creation of a managed landscape habitat. |
| Contractors | BAM Nuttall |
| Category | Transport |
| Keywords | road transport - biodiversity |
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