A £30m improvement scheme in Selby has been delayed due to the possible presence of bats.
Construction work was expected to start on the Selby Station Gateway scheme before Christmas.
But members of North Yorkshire Council’s Selby and Ainsty area committee have been told that work was still due to begin.
Programme manager Alex Richards said the delay was largely due to planning permissions expiring on parts of the scheme, which then highlighted the potential for bats to be present in some areas.
He said: “Some elements of the planning consent in order to deliver this scheme have expired.
“They need renewing, and in renewing them, they’ve raised the red flag that there may be bats present in some of these areas now.
“So we now have to put in mitigations and allow for the survey of bats etc.”
Mr Richards said the team was exploring whether some mitigation work can be carried out in advance, but warned that making significant progress before the bat survey season begins in May was proving difficult.
Further issues have emerged with the design of the improvement work.
Mr Richards said: “We’ve had to redesign elements of the scheme because when we actually got on site with the contractor, it didn’t fit.
“All of this has had a delay in us starting on site.”
The officer said work was now due to start next month on site with demolition work beginning in May.
Selby West division councillor, Melanie Davis, said she had concerns about how long the project was taking and how money was being “whittled away” on it.
She added: “I have a concern in the way it’s been presented that this might all end up being the bats’ fault and I don’t want anybody to run away with that.
“The bats are happy doing whatever they’re doing where they do it. This is not their fault.”
Councillor Arnold Warneken, member for Ouseburn, added: “I’m also conscious now that a delay has been put on the wings of the bats so I was wondering do you anticipate that any other wildlife is going to take the rap i.e. owls?
“Are you anticipating anything? I hope not because I would have thought it would have been done right at the outset.”
The meeting heard that contractor Galliford Try was preparing to move on site, with plans to establish a welfare compound in the coming weeks after initially being unable to obtain planning permission for the facility.
The scheme includes improvements to public areas around Selby railway station, including better walking and cycling links, and a reconfiguration of the roads to reduce “vehicle dominance”.
Improvements were previously planned to the station building, but these were removed from the scheme.
Councillors were told work was taking place with the York and North York Combined Authority and Network Rail to find more funding for this work.
A total of £38m from the Department for Transport’s Transforming Cities Fund programme has been allocated for improvement projects covering Harrogate, Selby, and Skipton.
