Archived press release

Wildlife policy put to the test over Newbury snail

14 June 1996

The court hearing on the Government's failure to protect the rare Desmoulin's Whorl Snail on the route of the Newbury bypass will take place next Tuesday at the High Court in London. The action is being brought by a coalition of local people and local, national and international environmental organisations [1] and will test the Government's commitment to the conservation of rare species.

The judicial review against the Secretaries of State for Transport and the Environment will seek to stop work on the Bypass, by an injunction if necessary. It will seek to show that the Government has failed in its obligations to treat parts of the route as a Special Area of Conservation(SAC) under the European Habitats Directive [2] despite acknowledging that it meets the scientific criteria and beginning the procedures for designation.

Peter Roderick, Barrister for the coalition, said:

"The Government is now in the absurd situation of commencing consultation with landowners on the designation of a site that it is planning to build a road through."

If the challenge is successful it will result in work on the Newbury Bypass being stopped until a proper assessment has been made of the impact of the scheme on the wildlife site. If this assessment is negative, then alternative transport solutions must legally be investigated. If there are no alternative solutions, then the road can only be built if there are imperative reasons of overriding interest'.

The hearing will take place at the High Court, The Strand, London on Tuesday 18 June 1996, (the time of the hearing will be known on Monday). Representatives from each member of the coalition will be available for comment after the hearing has taken place.

ENDS

Notes

[1] The coalition comprises the local wildlife trust BBONT (The Berkshire,Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Naturalists' Trust), Friends of the Earth, The Wildlife Trusts (the umbrella organisation for all wildlife trusts),World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF-UK) and local residents Mr Richard and Mrs Janet Stephens. EarthRights are lawyers for the coalition.

[2] The Kennet and Lambourn floodplain features patches of pristine chalk marsh, relics of the last Ice Age and has been proposed as a European wildlife site (a SAC) because it is home to exceptional populations of the rare Desmoulin's Whorl Snail (Vertigo moulinsiana).One of the sites under threat of destruction from the road is Rack Marsh,an island water meadow in the Lambourn managed as a nature reserve by BBONT.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust