IT SOUNDS like something Count Dracula would be proud of. City planners are insisting that a scheme to transform a former mortuary chapel into offices does not leave the resident bats hungry.

And they don't just want any old feeding ground - they are demanding the equivalent of a three-star Michelin restaurant.

Councillors have given the go-ahead to the development at the cemetery on Southampton Common. The listed building - currently standing empty - will be given a new lease of life but it must include accommodation for the colony of bats.

Councillor Sue Blatchford, chairman of Southampton's development control committee, was adamant that their needs be considered.

She said: "Obviously the old cemetery must be a prime feeding ground for bats - it must be a three star Michelin restaurant in their terms.

"Knowing that their habitat is now threatened, I hope English Nature will assist these bats in a robust way."

The transformation of the chapel - which will include building a mezzanine floor - is being pushed forward by Southampton and Solent Building Preservation Trust.

It has been working for several years to come up with a scheme that would allow for the preservation of the buildings as part of a commercial redevelopment.

Architect Peter Kilby said a full survey of the bats and where they were living would be carried out soon.

"At the moment we don't know where exactly they are roosting - but we know they are somewhere in the building," he said.

"We can't have them flying around when the chapel becomes an office so we are proposing to either create a bulkhead in the roof space or place bat boxes on the outside of the building."

Mr Kilby said that a company was already lined up to take over the office development once it was created.

"I cannot name the company but we have had a firm expression of interest from an advertising company which likes it because it is quirky," he added.