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Only one firework night at Kenwood ... due to bats
Mark Prigg, Science Correspondent22 May 2008
The traditional fireworks show at the Kenwood House concerts will be restricted to one night this summer - to safeguard colonies of bats.
The concerts on Hampstead Heath were cancelled last year following complaints about noise. But Camden councillors voted for them to return for eight weeks this summer with a new location for the stage.
Normally each concert ends with fireworks but this year the display will be restricted to one event at the end of the season - after a report recorded nine types of bats in the area, including rare species.
All bats are protected by law and the heath is a site of maximum priority for wildlife. The report said that if the fireworks are restricted to one event, the impact would not be harmful to the bats.
Planning officers wanted to stop all fireworks but applicant John Stephen, of Jones Lang LaSalle corporate facility management services, told the council meeting: "My clients would like to have that last fireworks show, which would be 10 minutes right at the end of the bat fledgling season, at night after the main feeding period. In previous concerts there have been up to nine displays and the bats seem to have survived that."
Councillors voted to allow the concerts to go ahead with just one firework show on the final night.
The concerts are run by IMG on behalf of English Heritage, whose spokeswoman Rebecca Kane said: "We are absolutely delighted that the concert series will return."
