Badgers delay road repairs for nine months
WORK to repair a bridge forced to close by a burst water pipe is being held up – by a family of badgers.
Herne Bridge, near Halberton, Mid-Devon is a vital access route for villagers onto the main road to Tiverton.
But due to a badger sett, locals are now facing up to nine months waiting for the repairs, forcing them to use back lanes they say are full of potholes and other hazards.
The bridge, known as Tiv/10, is owned by the Department of Transport (DfT), and managed by Historical Railways Estate as part of Highways England.
The water main running over the bridge burst on December 30, last year. South West Water and Devon County Council were called in to make emergency repairs.
But now an ecologist, called in to assess a permanent repair, has pointed out there is a substantial active badger sett in the vicinity which cannot be disturbed by law.
In a letter to local MP Neil Parish, explaining the situation, Devon County Council’s highways officers say the ecologist insists work cannot commence until the badgers had been safely “evicted.”
The letter goes on: “This cannot take place until after an artificial badger sett has been constructed locally and is being used, at which point a Natural England license can be applied for. Exclusion works can only take place between July 1 and November 30.
“A further issue here is that the DfT doesn’t own any land locally, so will have to negotiate with a landowner to gain permission to construct the artificial sett before any of the above can take place.
“This does highlight one of the issues that we frequently encounter whilst trying to balance public safety and ecological protection. I have had ongoing discussions with Natural
England on the general issue over the last few years. They only permit bypassing the legislation/license where there is an emergency.”
The engineers tell Mr Parish that, short of the bridge collapsing, work will have to be delayed for up to nine months. “As such, it is likely that the bridge will remain closed to traffic until at least the tail end of the year,” they conclude.
“Until works start on site to identify the full extent of damage to the embankment and structure it is difficult to advise an exact date of completion. However, the current road closure will be extended until December 31.”
Residents of Cross Parks, Ash Thomas and Brithem Bottom are furious. Dave Hurrell said: “It’s a bit of a joke. These councillors and highways officers are living wherever, so they don’t understand what’s going on. When you get the farmers coming through in summer with the contractors, it’s going to be worse still. The timescale is unacceptable.”
Sharon Skinner said it was “diabolical”.
She went on: “You can move elephants, you can move tigers, and you can dart and sedate them and be quite happy about it.
“But when it comes to badgers, you’re stuck”.