Third housing bid for Biggin Hill slow-worm site

The latest application would replace two empty bungalows at 51 and 53 The Grove with eight three-storey, four-bedroom houses. Each would have a back garden and two parking spaces. Owner Paul Bruckner proposes keeping the protected slow-worms on the Biggin Hill site rather than moving them 21 miles (34 km) to Kent, as an earlier plan envisaged. An ecologist commissioned by Bruckner has recommended a dedicated grassland area for them. [1]

On six survey visits between August and October 2025, ecologist Neil Coombs recorded no more than nine slow-worms on any one visit. Three bat emergence surveys detected none, although an earlier assessment had found bats in the bungalows and at least 23 slow-worms in the gardens. [1]

Bromley Council refused the first application, lodged in 2021, citing insufficient evidence that development would avoid harming wildlife, particularly bats and dormice. A later proposal to move the slow-worms to Fort Horsted in Chatham drew criticism from council planners, who said the relocation site had not been fully surveyed for reptiles. An appeal inspector agreed that its suitability had not been properly established. [1]