Archived press release

Ice Age Snail could freeze bypass route

15 February 1996

A rare species of snail found on the floodplains of the rivers Kennet and Lambourn could hold up construction of the proposed Newbury Bypass.Recent surveys by the Government's conservation advisors, English Nature, have revealed that a "major stronghold" for the snail may exist in the path of the proposed road.

Desmoulin's Whorl snail has survived in scattered parts of southern Britain since the last Ice Age. It is listed in Annex II of the EC Habitats and Species Directive which means that the UK is required to ensure that the snail's"favourable conservation status" is achieved by establishing new nature reserves, called Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), to maintain its range and population. According to today's New Scientist, the Newbury area is a stronghold and therefore the site should be selected.

If the Kennet and/or Lambourn floodplains are designated as an SAC, the UK Government will be obliged to carry out an assessment of the impact of the road on the new nature reserve and its wildlife, consider alternatives schemes and, if it still wishes to proceed with the bypass, take steps to ensure that the loss of habitat is compensated.

Tony Juniper, Deputy Campaigns Director, of Friends of the Earth said: "The effects of this road on wildlife habitats have never been properly assessed. The 1988 Public Inquiry didn't know about these creatures or how much importance would be attached to their conservation. We hope that the deliberations on whether to establish a European nature reserve at Newbury are based on a proper scientific assessment of the area's importance and that the political momentum behind the road will not distort any final decision."

The principal impact on the snail from the proposed road will arise from the construction of embankments across the rivers' floodplains. These will involve alterations to the snail's habitat due to changes to floodplain hydrology and require the obliteration of large areas of the creature's favoured damp grasslands through the construction of gravel pits and the embankments themselves. The Government's conservation advisors English Nature and the National Rivers Authority have raised concerns over the ecological impacts of the embankments but the Highways Agency has refused to consider less damaging designs.

Additional notes: English Nature says that it has not carried out a survey on the snail in the 200m strip where the road actually crosses the floodplain but that it has found 19 populations along 75km of floodplain (not certain if both rivers or just one of them). Impacts of the road on the snails off route are not clear. However, NRA have concerns about the ecological impacts of the river crossings whilst there needs to be a comparison of snail distribution and the gravel pits on the Sutton Estates to look at possible conflicts of interest.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust