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Bellway Homes gets largest fine ever issued for wildlife crime Housebuilder Bellway Homes has been ordered to pay the largest fine ever issued by a UK court in relation to wildlife crime after damaging a site inhabited by bats. After admitting guilt to having “damaged or destroyed a breeding site or resting place of a wild animal” on Tuesday at Woolwich Crown Court, the firm was ordered to pay a fine of £600,000 with further costs of more than £30,000. Bellway said it would also make a voluntary donation of £20,000 to the Bat Conservation Trust. Bellway Homes carried out demolition work at the site in Artillery Place, Greenwich, in south east London in 2018, despite the presence of bats being documented at the site the previous year. In the UK, all bats are a European Protected Species. The company had been notified in planning documents that it would need to obtain a Natural England European Protected Species licence and mitigate any potential damage before carrying out wo

United kingdomCity ofDavid hawtinGreenwich safer neighbourhoods teamWoolwich crown courtBats conservationBat conservationHousebuilder bellway homesArtillery placeEuropean protectedNatural england european protected speciesMetropolitan policeRoyal boroughNatural englandBellway homesSafer neighbourhoods team