David McKennaEast Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
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Badger setts are legally protected
Repairs to a road at risk of collapse due to burrowing badgers are on hold for six months because of rules protecting the creatures during mating season, a council leader has claimed.
On Tuesday, Rob Waltham, who leads North Lincolnshire Council, said it was “outrageous” that work could not proceed on College Road, near East Halton, and called on Natural England (NE) “to take urgent, pragmatic action” to resolve the issue.
NE said it had issued the council with a licence to carry out the work in October, ahead of the beginning of the breeding season on 1 December.
In fresh comments earlier, Waltham said he had held a “very positive and open conversation” with NE.
North Lincolnshire Council
The damaged surface in College Road, near East Halton
Parts of College Road were closed in October and the council said it had completed detailed design work to rebuild them.
But badger setts are legally protected and it is a criminal offence to interfere with one without government approval.
A spokesperson for NE said it issued the council with a licence on 13 October “to carry out this work ahead of the badger breeding season”.
According to the council, it then built an “alternative badger sett to allow repairs to go ahead”, only for the badgers to return to their original sett.
“As a result, legal protections linked to the badger mating season now mean no work can take place until 1 July 2026,” the council stated.
‘Frankly outrageous’
In his initial comments on Tuesday, Waltham said: “It is frankly outrageous that protections affecting a handful of badgers during mating season mean six months of total inaction on a failing road
“An entire village is left to live with danger, disruption and the slow erosion of its local services.
“We respect the importance of protecting wildlife, but the current situation has tipped completely out of balance.”
NE said the badger breeding season ran from 1 December to 30 June, during which time sows were pregnant, giving birth or raising cubs underground, making them highly vulnerable to disturbance.
However, the spokesperson added: “In exceptional circumstances, we can grant extensions to licences. We will be discussing next steps with North Lincolnshire Council in the new year.”
On Wednesday, Waltham said he looked forward to working with NE in the new year.