# The Town and Country Planning (Entertainment Resort Complex, Bedford) Special Development (No. 2) Order 2025, Paragraph 10: Dark corridors for bats


(1) Subject to sub-paragraphs (5) and (6), unless the criterion specified in sub-paragraph (2) is satisfied, no construction work may take place—
(a) within 10 metres of the southern boundary of the proposed public roadway limit of deviation running east to west along Manor Road in the direction of the Core Zone, as shown on the access and roadways plan,
(b) within the northern section of the part of the Order land comprising the proposed public roadway limit of deviation shown running east to west along Manor Road, between—
(i) the point where it intersects with Public Road B, Segment 1 in the Lake Zone, and
(ii) the point where it intersects with Ampthill Road in the East Gateway Zone,
all as shown on the access and roadways plan, or
(c) in the riparian protection zone on either side of Elstow Brook in the West Gateway Zone.
(2) The criterion is that where any dark corridor is proposed to be located in an area specified in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of sub-paragraph (1), as the case may be, one of the following has been submitted to the Secretary of State for approval and endorsed by the Secretary of State—
(a) a habitat creation and enhancement plan containing details of that dark corridor;
(b) a masterplan or detailed design containing details of that dark corridor;
(c) a document (a “corridor plan”) that—
(i) includes an OS plan identifying the general location and extent, including any lines of deviation, of that dark corridor, and
(ii) gives details of the measures to be implemented to create, enhance or retain, and maintain a dark corridor there.
(3) A corridor plan must explain how the requirements specified in condition 8(7) (habitat creation and enhancement plans) will be complied with in respect of that dark corridor.
(4) A dark corridor to which a corridor plan applies must be provided substantially in accordance with the endorsed corridor plan that identifies it.
(5) Preliminary work that does not involve any interference with the habitats of bats may begin in an area referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of sub-paragraph (1) before a document referred to in sub-paragraph (2) has been submitted or endorsed.
(6) An access route for construction work may be constructed in an area referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of sub-paragraph (1) before a document referred to in sub-paragraph (2) has been submitted or endorsed if—
(a) the site controller has submitted to the Secretary of State for approval a document setting out—
(i) details of the construction access route, including its location in relation to the rest of the Order land on an OS plan;
(ii) the steps to be taken to ensure that its construction will not adversely affect bats;
(iii) measures to monitor the taking of those steps and their effectiveness, and
(b) the Secretary of State has endorsed that document.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/1322/schedule/3/paragraph/10 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/town-and-country-planning-entertainment-resort-complex-bedford-special-development-no-2-order-2025/schedule-3/paragraph-10
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.