Ricky Gervais locked in planning battle over £6M mansion

The Reading comedian has been planning to knock down his current home in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.

This forms part of a grand plan to build a completely new property on the grounds, which will feature both a tennis court and a gym, with Oxford-based architects Anderson Orr.

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The plans for a new house on the land.(Image: AndersonOrr / SWNS)

The Office star's renovation has hit a brick wall, though, with the discovery of a family of bats in his loft.

A recent bat survey on the Marlow home revealed that it is a roost for a colony of the protected species.

The Sun has reported that more than 270 soprano pipistrelle bats were seen flying from the building and that thousands of droppings were discovered.

The report said: "Because maternity roosts require a particular set of environmental attributes, breeding bats tend to return to roost and breed in the same locations year after year.

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"Given that bats live a relatively long time (10-20 years) and only give birth to one pup a year, maternity colonies are crucial to the reproduction and survival of the local population and can be very sensitive to environmental change."

The Wildlife and Countryside Act states that it is an offence to disturb, injure or kill bats.

This also includes damaging the species' roosts, meaning Mr Gervais will have to obtain a special licence from Natural England.

Reports also suggest that it is likely the TV star will be forced to build a bat loft in his garage and two bat boxes in trees on the grounds to abide by the Bat Mitigation Strategy.