Rare newts delay hotel building

[chris]

Work on a £2.3m hotel has been halted to protect a colony of rare newts.

Natural England said work on the Travelodge at Lowestoft, Suffolk, should stop to prevent the great crested newts being harmed.

Officials are assessing an application from developers for permission to move the newts to a new site. The process is expected to take about a month.

Travelodge said it was working with wildlife experts to arrange the safe removal of the newts from its site.

The newts are living close to a pond near the development and Natural England said they were in danger of being killed.

"They are on the move at this time of the year and are moving around very close to the development," said the spokesman.

'Safe removal'

"They are at risk of getting on to the site and being killed during development work."

Experts say great crested newts are Britain's largest newt species and their numbers have declined significantly during the past century.

They are a designated protected species and it is an offence to capture, kill or disturb them without official approval.

A Travelodge spokeswoman said: "We recognise the importance of preserving the local ecology in Lowestoft and are happy to be working with the Wildlife Trust to ensure the safe removal of newts from our site.

"We have experienced a delay to the building schedule but Lowestoft Travelodge is still expected to open just in time for Christmas 2008."


Source: BBCNews

[Merlin]

Its best to steer clear of political views on a website like this, in fact I'd go one further and suggest they were not allowed and certainly not in keeping with the purpose of the website. However, this is an excellent story and an excellent result in favour of the newts.

Pete.

[Chocky]

Really good news.
Even the great crested newts are not even aloud to be handled. The wildlife programs have to have permission