The government conservation advisory body has decided to confer “favourable conservation status” on Barbastelle bats in the region.

Council leader Kay Mason said the rule change will “make it almost impossible for us to be granted a licence and without that licence, we cannot build the road.”

She said: “I fear this is yet another example of an unelected quango introducing new rules to suit their narrow remit without thought about how this affects everyone else.

“We saw this on nutrient neutrality, which was a disaster for the house building industry and now we see this new advice (and I use that term loosely), which threatens to block any infrastructure scheme in the whole of southern and central England and Wales.

“It beggars belief that vital infrastructure projects, which have the backing and funding from central government and the overwhelming support of the local population, can be blocked, on the hoof, without evidence and effectively in secret by such an unelected organisation.”

Ferrovial was awarded the contract back in 2021 and central government funding towards the majority of the costs was finally agreed last October.

The council is now planning to lobby the government over the bat ruling and continue with the planning process.

Mason said: “We will not sit by and let this project be derailed without a fight. We will be submitting our planning application, and we will be challenging this attempt to subvert the will of the people and their elected representatives by every means at our disposal.”