Natural England is not the only body allowing aspects of the HS2 railway.

Major infrastructure projects receive a Development Consent Order (DCO) from the government, but local authorities are still given control over the design of buildings such as viaducts and tunnels.

Planning permission may also be required for lorry routes, construction material storage, communication masts, fencing and lighting.

HS2 Ltd said it had gone to the Planning Inspectorate on at least 23 occasions to overrule local authorities. Buckinghamshire Council objected, external to the bat shield plan.

In addition, permission from the Environment Agency is required for “water management, excavation below the water table and similar matters”.

Gavin Pearson, editor of the New Civil Engineer, said: “In recent years it has been taking longer than most people think to achieve a DCO.

“Good plans have been sitting around for years, which means things like cost estimates will become outdated.

“If you multiply the same problem for planning processes in local governments, the consequences could be huge.”

He said engineering projects could cope with “complex planning rules” but there was “an increasing inability of planning processes to keep up with practice”.