CONCERNS have been raised over a moors holiday village proposal that could destroy an irreplaceable ancient woodland and harm bat populations.

The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has written to councillors on the Scarborough planning committee highlighting its fears over the £40m development proposed at the Raithwaite Estate, north of Whitby.

The plans include the building of 64 cottages, 72 apartments and 64 forest lodges, along with a restaurant and leisure facilities.

Central to the Trust’s objections is the fact that the development will be almost entirely in areas which are very important for wildlife.

This includes an essentially irreplaceable ancient woodland habitat which, once damaged or destroyed, takes hundreds of years to recover or for replacement woodland to develop.

Parts of the application site are also shown to be within a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC).

The Trust’s conservation officer Sara Robin said: “The council will need to be certain that the benefits of the application will be sufficient to outweigh the loss of the ancient woodland.

“The woodland around the North York Moors is particularly important for bats which are very sensitive to the effects of lighting and disturbance.

“A bat survey for the site revealed evidence of five bat species and possible indication that Serotine bats may use the woodland.

“If so, this could be first record of this rare bat species in North Yorkshire and the most northerly record in the UK.”

The proposal, submitted for Harrogate-based Yorkshire Ventures (Estates) Ltd, has thus far attracted almost 1,000 objections.

The planning committee will meet on September 7.