Slow-worms could stay put under new homes plan

Plans for eight homes in Biggin Hill have been submitted for a third time, after an earlier scheme stalled over how a colony of slow-worms would be protected.

The new owner of 51 and 53 The Grove, in the London Borough of Bromley, wants to keep the protected legless lizards on the site rather than move them 21 miles (34km) away to Kent.

A survey he commissioned recorded fewer of the reptiles than a previous assessment had found.

The application seeks to demolish two empty bungalows and replace them with eight three-storey, four-bedroom houses, each with a back garden and two parking spaces.

Planning documents acknowledge the designs are very similar to those put forward before.

The first application, lodged in 2021, was refused because Bromley Council said there was not enough evidence the development would not harm wildlife, particularly bats and dormice.

A second attempt two years later included a full ecological assessment, which found bats in the bungalows and at least 23 slow-worms in the gardens.

The applicant offered to move the reptiles to Fort Horsted in Chatham, but council planners said the proposals lacked detail and noted that no full reptile survey of the Kent site had been carried out.

An appeal was lodged with the Planning Inspectorate after the council failed to reach a decision in time, but the inspector agreed the site's suitability had not been properly established.

Many residents of The Grove objected to the earlier plans, arguing eight homes were too many for the plot and construction vehicles would struggle on the narrow road.

The land has since been bought by Paul Bruckner, who commissioned ecologist Neil Coombs to carry out a fresh appraisal.

Across six reptile surveys between August and October 2025, Coombs counted no more than nine slow-worms on any one visit, while three bat emergence surveys detected none.

He recommended keeping the slow-worms in a dedicated area of grassland on the site, citing the lower numbers and the risks of moving them elsewhere.

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