The owner of Mentmore Towers, the Buckinghamshire mansion used as Bruce Wayne's "Wayne Manor" in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, has been ordered by Buckinghamshire Council to carry out bat surveys as the Grade I-listed property continues to fall into disrepair. Failure to comply could ultimately see the council pursue a compulsory purchase order, potentially costing owner Simon Halabi the historic estate. The move follows years of criticism over the building's deteriorating condition, which Historic England has described as "very bad".

The mansion, built between 1852 and 1854 for the Rothschild family and the only major surviving work of Crystal Palace architect Sir Joseph Paxton, has suffered damage to its roofs, chimneys and leadwork, with cracked walls, broken windows, ivy growth and bat droppings found on inspection. Halabi, who bought the property in 1999 for £6m intending to convert it into a 171-suite luxury hotel, saw those plans collapse after a legal challenge and the 2008 housing market crash; the associated company is now dormant. The council requires three bat-emergence surveys to be completed by August 2027, alongside any necessary Natural England licensing, with heritage group SAVE Britain's Heritage urging Halabi to carry out overdue repairs.