BATS, birds, invertebrates and reptiles will be protected after Thurrock Council gave approval to a 222 page report detailing the wildlife on a soon-to-be-built-on development site in Stanford-le-Hope.

The ecology scheme for the land south of the Manorway and accessed via Victoria Road where 153 homes are set to be built next year is extremely detailed – though there is little reference to the flooding of the site which has recently been of extreme concern to residents in the town as homes and properties were flooded.

The site is adjacent to the Stanford Meadows site where 127 homes are currently being built and residents fear that the continued development of marshland around the town will lead to more flooding.

However, if a projection by environment group Climate Central were to come through, it would all be immaterial by 2050 anyway as large parts of Thurrock could be under water because of climate change.

A map created by climate experts shows how rising sea levels caused by global warning could submerge large parts of the borough – with land earmarked for these latest new homes right in the middle of a surge in water levels that sweeps up through the town.

In the ecology application just approved the environment conditions of the site, specifically the flooding risk, developers say the location of the 153 new homes has been governed by the nature of the land and that its wildlife will be protected both during construction and after building is completed by the creation of open wildlife areas.

The is proposed that there will be a land management body created and funded by a Section 106 financial contribution to ensure the site is managed safey and under the best environmental conditions.

A report says: "The site itself comprises an area of grassland that has been absent from formal management in the recent past allowing a more rank and naturalised sward to develop, although horse grazing has been seen to be periodically present across much of the site.

"Additional habitats include areas of scrub which are maturing and also extending to the detriment of grassland areas, tall ruderal vegetation, wet/marshy grassland, trees and a watercourse."