It seems that the Bat Conservation Trust has been successful in making the Church of England provide bats a safe space in which to hang \u2013 full inclusion for bats \u2013 by having churches install bat flaps in their stained glass windows.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s encouraging to see that there is at least one organisation that has a convincing perspective on an enduring purpose for English churches.<\/p>\n
From here<\/a>:<\/p>\n Bat conservation is damaging churches not just physically but financially and cannot be sustained, Environment Minister Richard Benyon MP was told today.<\/p>\n The cost of replacing one small piece of a leaded window, for example, increased from \u00a35 using plain glass to \u00a3140 when fitting a lead \u2018bat flap\u2019 was required by the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) – four weeks\u2019 collection in the rural parish church of Wiggenhall, St Germans.<\/p>\n Leaving interpretation of the law on bat conservation largely to the BCT is bringing the European Habitats Directive into disrepute to the detriment of endangered species more generally, warned a Church of England delegation led by Second Church Estates Commissioner Sir Tony Baldry MP, with representatives of Natural England.<\/p>\n \u201cI remain puzzled as to why our churches are treated as if they were uninhabited barns. They are not,\u201d said the Rt Revd Graham James, Bishop of Norwich.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It seems that the Bat Conservation Trust has been successful in making the Church of England provide bats a safe space in which to hang \u2013 full inclusion for bats \u2013 by having churches install bat flaps in their stained … Continue reading