ú8,400 fine for flouting newt law

Another prosecution. NE press release:

Construction company fined for damaging resting place of
newts
8 March 2010

On 8 March 2010 at Lowestoft Magistrates Court, Barnes
Construction Limited of Ransomes Europark, Ipswich, was
fined ?700 with ?200 costs and a victim surcharge of ?15
after pleading guilty to damaging or destroying a resting
place of great crested newts at the construction site for
a new Travelodge in Leisureway, Lowestoft.

The owners of the land at Potters Kiln had employed
professional consultant ecologists to do a wildlife
survey and apply to Natural England for a licence to trap
and move any great crested newts to a new reserve set up
specially to take them on land immeadiately adjoining the
site. This land is now owned and managed by the Suffolk
Wildlife Trust.

As part of the licenced trapping programme, a special
amphibian-proof fence was erected around the entire site
to help catch the newts but also to prevent them from
returning to the site once they had been transferred to
the adjacent site.

Natural England officers visited the site on 23 May 2008
following a complaint to find that the fence had been
removed in some areas and damaged in others. This would
allow newts to re-entre the site and potentially be
killed or injured by the construction work which had
already started on the site.

The company pleaded guilty to damaging or destroying a
resting place of great crested newts under Regulation 39
(1) (d) of the Conservation (Natural habitats, &c)
Regulations 1994.

Following the verdict, Natural England Wildlife
Enforncement Specialist Paul Cantwell, said:

"This case highlights the need for construction companies
to comply with the law in relation to protected species.
In this particular case, the defendant failed to ask any
questions of the site owner in relation to protected
species and failed to ascertain the purpose of the
amphibian fencing. Had it done so, they may not have
ended up with a criminal conviction today. The
aggravating feature in this case was that they were told
by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, the landowner's ecologist,
the Poilce and Natural England to stop works because of
the risk to newts but failed to heed these warnings and
carried on."

A spokesperson for Suffolk Wildlife Trust added: "We are
pleased that the law protecting great crested newts,
which are protected at both a national and European
level, has been proven to work. Great crested newts are
legally protected from trade, transport, possession,
capture, injury, killing or disturbance. Their habitat
also receives protection from disturbance."

Whilst it is all very laudable to prosecute these people I think that as big, or bigger, a villains are local councils, reserve managers, wildlife maintenance organisations etc. They are gradually chipping away at our wildlife by their misguided actions. I could quote you examples, but then everyone on here could!