A £2M scheme to convert 400-year-old barns at an Abingdon church is back on track after bats roosting in the roofs were rehoused.

Work to convert the barns at Christ Church in Northcourt Road into community facilities, including a new cafe, was due to start about six months ago.

But church leaders were advised not to disturb the bats, protected by strict conservation regulations, over the winter months. Now they have been rehoused in nesting boxes on the site and construction work is due to be finished next spring.

Project manager Jenny Corps said there were about a dozen pipistrelle and long eared bats roosting in the barns.

Both barns are Grade II listed so the conversions will take care to preserve their historic qualities.