Presence of bats hamper work to demolish homes in monkey-hanging capital.
Housing Hartlepool has altered plans to demolish 72 homes in Easington Road to protect a roost of bats found in 12 of the properties.
Demolition of most of the properties will go-ahead as planned and is set to see workers from Sirius Remediation on site this week. But the clearance of 12 properties will be postponed until early May next year after pre-work inspections discovered the pipistrelle bats, which are a protected species.
This marks an incredible U-turn in the wildlife conservation fortunes of a town that once famously hanged a monkey as a French spy.
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