BHP Planners Rescue Endangered Newt Colony

The amphibians – which include a small number of the infamous and protected Great Crested, Britain’s biggest and rarest newt – set up home in the half-built, derelict pool at Durham Tees Valley Airport.

 

It was started as part of a hotel and leisure complex development at the airport but was later abandoned.

 

The unfinished pool together with dozens of large concrete drainage chambers across the site appeared to provide the perfect water-filled homes for the amphibians.

 

However, once they get into the chambers they are trapped and many have already died.

 

They were discovered by ecologists brought in by the BHP Develop, the planning team at Blackett Hart & Pratt based in Darlington, on behalf of a client who wants to develop the site into Skyline Business Park, providing start-up units for airport related industries.

 

Steve Barker explained: “We have recently submitted a planning application on behalf of our client, Sven Investments, and as part of that investigated the site for any wildlife populations.

 

“The swimming pool is clearly not a natural habitat for newts and the problem with the concrete and brick chambers is that they are effectively traps – once the amphibians fall into them, they can’t get back out. Some have already starved to death, while others are being rescued in an emaciated state.

 

“Spring is their breeding season so it was important that we rescued them as quickly as possible once they were discovered. Sven Investments agreed immediately to fund the rescue and within a day we had specialists on site doing just that.”

 

The newts, frogs and toads are being collected mainly during the hours of darkness because they are nocturnal by BHP Develop’s licensed ecological consultants Naturally Wild.

 

With support from Cleveland Wildlife Trust and Natural England they are being moved to other ponds within the airport perimeter as a temporary measure.

 

Sven Investments’ planning application for the offices and business units is currently with Darlington Borough Council. Included in the application is a plan to develop a new wildlife habitat so the creatures can be returned and continue their breeding programme later.

 

Graeme Skinner, director and reptile and amphibian specialist at Naturally Wild, added: “Finding this number of newts on the site has been a real eye opener, although the vast majority are smooth or common newts. The site has been abandoned for a few years and there has been no human interference so the population has grown. Unfortunately, the places they have chosen to breed are far from ideal. 

 

“It’s now about saving those that have become trapped then allowing them to breed elsewhere. It’s a valuable project to rescue them and hopefully those that are in poor health will recover quite quickly.”