Ricky Gervais’s plans to demolish and rebuild his riverside home in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, have been further delayed after a bat survey identified a maternity roost of protected bats in the property’s loft, and earlier objections from the Environment Agency over flood risk remain unresolved.
The survey recorded more than 270 soprano pipistrelle bats emerging from the building and found thousands of droppings, which planning documents say indicate an active maternity colony. Bats and their roosts are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, and disturbing, injuring or destroying a roost is an offence. Natural England must grant a licence before any works that could affect the colony can proceed, and the bat mitigation strategy outlined in planning paperwork says the scheme is likely to require a replacement bat loft in the garage and the installation of bat boxes in nearby trees.
The bat report noted that maternity roosts have specific environmental attributes, that breeding bats tend to return to the same locations year after year, and that maternity colonies are vital to local populations because bats typically give birth to only one pup a year and can live for a decade or more. The presence of a maternity roost complicates redevelopment because mitigation must maintain or replace suitable breeding habitat.
Separately, the Environment Agency earlier this year objected to a resubmitted planning proposal for a neoclassical replacement dwelling on the site, saying the flood-risk assessment provided was inadequate and failed to take the impacts of climate change into account. The agency told the local planning authority that, in the absence of an acceptable site-specific flood-risk assessment, it objected to the application and that a Flood Risk Activity Permit would also be required to undertake works adjacent to the River Thames.
The agency’s objections, as set out in correspondence on the planning portal, said the assessment did not comply with the requirements for site-specific flood-risk assessments, did not demonstrate that development would not increase flood risk elsewhere, and failed to show that allowances for future climate change had been calculated. The agency recommended flood-resistance and resilience measures, including physical barriers, raised electrical fittings and specialist construction materials, and said the applicant would need to demonstrate that any loss of floodplain storage could be compensated for to prevent increased flood risk.
Gervais’s planning agent told the council that work on the project had been put on hold pending clarification from the Environment Agency after a delayed response to the pre-application consultation. The agent has argued that the proposed redevelopment would not increase the building’s footprint and that raising ground-floor levels combined with increased undercroft storage would improve the dwelling’s flood resilience, while noting the property has been flooded on several occasions when the Thames burst its banks.
The property on the banks of the Thames was bought by Gervais in 2014 for £2.75 million and is now reported to be worth more than £4 million. He lives at the Marlow house with his partner, author Jane Fallon. Gervais’s wider property portfolio includes a north London mansion reported to be worth about £14.75 million and apartments in New York.
Planning authorities previously rejected an earlier application for the site last September, concluding the proposal represented “inappropriate more vulnerable development in a high flood risk zone.” That refusal followed concerns that previous proposals did not properly assess flood risk or account for climate change, and came after Gervais withdrew a separate application to add a bedroom extension over a garage.
The combination of the bat survey findings and outstanding flood-risk issues means any future application will likely need to include a revised flood-risk assessment that accounts for climate change, a detailed ecological mitigation plan acceptable to Natural England, and evidence that any required permits will be obtainable. Until those matters are addressed, agents for the comedian say the project will remain on hold.
Gervais, 64, is known for his work as a comedian, actor and creator of the series The Office. Local planning records show the case continues to be considered by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead under standard development control and ecological protection rules.