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GBR Press: Newts Delay Safety Work

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<u>LEICESTER MERCURY</u> (UK) 20 November 06 Newts Delay Safety Work (Shirley Elsby)
Safety improvements to an accident blackspot have been delayed to protect a colony of great crested newts.
The creatures, an endangered species, were found in a ditch alongside the Stretton Bends on the A5 in Burbage. The scheme, which has already been delayed several times, was expected to start this autumn.
A spokesman for the Highways Agency said today: "Because the newts are now hibernating until the end of March 2007, areas of work will have to be delayed."
It is an offence to deliberately capture or kill a great crested newt or damage a place they use for shelter.
People who breach the legislation can be fined or jailed.
Before the road improvements can be carried out, the Highways Agency must obtain a special licence from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The licence gives authority to disturb the newts' habitat. To obtain one, it must be demonstrated that the purpose of the project is to preserve public health or safety.
County council statistics show, between 2001 and 2005, 29 people were injured in accidents on a one-mile section of the A5, including the Bends.
The whole project will last 35 weeks and will start in late January.
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council has contributed about £240,000 to the project - cash collected from local development. No overall cost has yet been announced as the contract is still out to tender.
County councillor John Moore, chair of Hinckley and Bosworth Highways Forum, said: "Hopefully, accidents of the type we have been having along there will become a lot rarer. With regard to the newts, we have got to look after the environment, but I am very much of the opinion that a few newts ought to take second place to human beings."
Work on the Stretton Bends will include cutting back trees and shrubbery to improve visibility and altering the awkward road camber. A 40mph speed limit is also planned.
Traffic signals will be added to the nearby M69/A5 roundabout.
Resident Ken Clarke, of Stretton House Farm, said: "We have had dates to start work now for over five years. In 1998, apparently there was an agreement to put a 40mph limit on this stretch of road."
He said that, in his first three years living there, there were 36 accidents, including two fatalities, within 50 yards of his driveway.
Mr Clarke said: "I think we are more interested in the life of a newt than in the life of a human being."
The newts were found on the property of Mike Clews, who said he had never seen them until the Highways Agency sent environmentalists to check.
He said: "They came many times, usually very late at night with flash lights and plastic bottles to catch them and count them. They did identify we had a medium-sized colony of great crested newts."
There is a pond around 150 metres from the road. It is thought the newts in the ditch may have wandered from there.

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk./displayNode.jsp?nodeId=133136&command=displayContent&sourceNode=133129&contentPK=15994881&folderPk=77469&pNodeId=133087
 
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<u>CHESTER CHRONICLE </u>(UK) 01 December 06 Fears of crash near newt haven
A serious road smash is inevitable because of planners' skewed priorities, villagers claim.
People living near the A550 Shotwick Dip say the Highways Agency is dragging its feet over a £235,000 road improvement to save lives, despite spending £312,000 to save 15 great crested newts in the same area.
The problem is to get worse due to the £51.41m A5117 Deeside Park junction improvements. Yet a Government inspector declared improvements to the dip were needed back in January.
Robert McConnell, who has been campaigning on behalf of the parochial church council at St Michael's, said a survey revealed cars on Shotwick Lane have six seconds to join traffic on the A550.
'There will be an almighty shunt there soon if they don't do anything about it,' he said. 'We are waiting for a big accident, and then they might think about doing something.'
An inspection under the Highways Act 1980 accepted that accident statistics did not show the crossroads were particularly dangerous.
But it said: 'I am firmly of the opinion there is a need for improvement at the Shotwick crossroads and that need will exacerbate with the opening of the scheme.'
Work on the Deeside Park junction has now begun but Mr McConnell says Shotwick Dip was not included.
He added: 'It shows where their priorities are, doesn't it? It is daft - there are loads of newts.'
A resident of Shotwick Lane said: 'You can assign all sorts of protection for newts but if you want to get them to provide road safety, you have to jump 2007.'
A Highways Agency spokesman said: 'We noted the inspector's comments and have commissioned a study. This should be available in February through hoops.'

http://iccheshireonline.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_headline=fears-of-crash-near-newt-haven-&method=full&objectid=18192536&siteid=50020-name_page.html
 
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