Search the Community

Our neighbours talk of them in hushed tones. Our friends look puzzled, and then after a few moments get that thousand yard stare. It’s easy to bore people when you mention the humble newt. But people on buildhub.org.uk searching for what to do about them in planning terms won’t be bored. So here is a summary of our experience in the hope that I can save you some time, money and worry. Quick Read: The great crested newt (GCN) is a protected species. It is unlawful to handle them (unless you are qualified) and illegal to -knowingly- injure or kill them. If you live near (250m) a pond, an initial survey must be done to see if they are present (as well as other species). If that initial survey finds evidence of them, a full survey must be done. That survey forms the basis of an application for a license to exclude GCNs from the construction area. The exclusion exercise must be properly run, and can take up to 80 days, during which time no other building work can be done inside the site boundaries. Imagine the rictus grin on our faces when we realised the consequences of our dear dear children’s favourite summer holiday pastime. Fetching buckets full of GCNs from the surrounding ponds and pools and putting them in ‘our’ ponds. We are, even as we speak, trying to reclaim the pocket money we gave them. Ah, such innocent times they were when it ‘were-all-green-fieulds-rouwnd-heer’ earlier last century. GCNs add at least a year to any building project; one bit of building-lore that we were told that seems to be proving to be true. We started planning our Outline Planning Permission application in January last year. GCNs are active when the outside air temperature is (roughly) +7C. And go to bed when it’s less than 7. So that makes their active time from about late April to early October. Right now (January) they are tucked up in bed in a foundation block near you, snoring gently. They are nocturnal beasts: so they are sneaky little things: you might spend all your life never knowing that a GCN is rat-like, never more that 10 meters from where you are. I overstate a little – mostly it matters not a tinkers cuss. But when you want to build, there’s no avoiding the issue. The full pre-planning application survey which must be done by qualified ecologists is, in essence, an educated guess at the population size. That survey (which will focus on other species too) forms the core of the application toNatural England (link last checked January 2015). I thought the survey we paid for was a definitive document. It isn’t. It’s an educated guess. The confidence levels in predicting population size on the basis of the ecologists’ survey is close to zero. Mustn’t grumble eh? We were given full planning permission to build in October 2015 and we've only just been give the EPS Licence (May 2016). A work schedule was agreed in October 2015, but not followed. I have expressed my disappointment in the appropriate places. There's a lesson then. Project management is important - the devil is in the detail. Costs? I’ll do a separate article about that. About £1500 spent getting us this far, and a guess of another £1500 at least for the next phase.

I now understand why farmers dump pig manure into perfectly healthy ponds with before submitting a planning application. Doing that kills all the wildlife, and in doing so prevents this kind of thing happening. The following is a simple factual easy-to-read list of what happened, and a brief comment at the end. October 2015, full PP, with conditions attached ' ...get an EPS licence...' (European Protected Species Licence for Great Crested Newts) Meeting that month with the Ecologist to establish a timetable for Licence Application submission: Target November 2015 Several follow-up emails: Licence applied for in February 2016 Natural England write to me explain that there were 16 errors in the application Corrections submitted March 2016 Licence accepted by Natural England May 2016 Licence submitted to LPA May 2016 June 2016, the LPA has still not formally accepted the licence (but has done informally) 30 days of trapping will start in July And end in Mid August 2016 Costs? Initial survey £1300+, and the Licence Application £1800 (details here) On costs; roughly another £2000. The application system is cumbersome. Great Crested Newts are common. I will give full details in my blog soon. I'm not cross - just wiser and more understanding. I've used the enforced delay to improve plans and do a lot of preparatory work myself. If I can't take a joke, I shouldn't have applied, should I?

Why does my build require an EPS Licence, and the other new-builds either side of me don't? The problem is simple. People are building and have built either side of my property. For those three -yes three- properties, the planning process has taken no account of the local population of Great Crested Newts. Yet for my build I have had to have the surveys done, had to apply for the EPS licence, and I'm now in the process of fulfilling its requirements. All four of our properties are exactly the same distance from the ponds containing the newts (Great Crested Newts). What's so special about the other three properties that they aren't subject to the same law? I have tried to remedy the situation politely, quietly, diplomatically. But this week a Planning Department straw broke my back. What that straw is doesn't matter. LPAs have a statutory duty to consult all relevant interested bodies before a decision is made in respect of an application. In the case of the other three planning applications all within 50 meters of my property, no account was taken of the duty to protect GCNs. What have I done about it? I have written to the Head of Planning at the LPA explaining the situation, and giving clear evidence that GCNs are being killed, and pointing out that there is a simple avoidable unfairness in the administration of the four separate applications. Mine was the only on which was required to take account of the EPS issue. I have taken the advice of a local planner (the excellent, sharp-minded Jane - details? PM me). Her advice is to go nuclear because of the simplicity of my case. Before I do, I thought I'd run it past you all. Just as a final check before I take to the keyboard in earnest. I am minded to; Inform the Police that there is an ongoing offence against the Countryside and Wildlife Act See the Local Parish Councillor whose remit is planning See the County Councillor who has responsibility for planning Go and see my MP about it (Cat Smith) Write to our Council's Chief Exec and explain that I have raised the issue with the Head of the LPA, but that he avoided answering my question My instinct was at one time to deal with this at as low a level as possible. But not any more. Advice from any of you to back off a bit will be more likely to be listened to than the opposite. "Well, lad, can't take a joke? - Shouldn't have joined then should ya!" That Parachute Regiment Sergeant's admonition lovingly hissed into my ear during the 1970s is easily transposed to; "Can't take a joke? Shouldn't have applied for Planning Permission should I !