Force of nature as lone newt blocks Durham's new £14m police HQ (From Darlington and Stockton Times)
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Force of nature as lone newt blocks Durham's new £14m police HQ
12:00am Friday 8th February 2013 in News
Exclusive By Mark Tallentire, Reporter (Durham)
A great crested newt similar to the one holding up the police HQ
CONSTRUCTION of a new state-of-the-art £14m police headquarters has been halted – by the discovery of a single newt hundreds of yards off site.
Outgoing Durham Police chief constable Jon Stoddart cut the first sod on the force’s long-awaited new HQ in Durham City last October.
But, since then, no work has been done on the Aykley Heads site.
The Northern Echo can now reveal that the delay is due to a single Great Crested newt having been found some distance away, near the East Coast railway line.
Frustrated police chiefs say every day of delay is costing the cash-strapped force £2,000 – meaning the hitch has already cost up to £250,000.
The force offered to build log pile “newt houses” on the site, in case the newt migrated while construction was taking place, but officials from Natural England, the guardian of England’s natural environment, demanded more be done.
It is understood that the agency did not feel the police’s plans were robust enough.
The force then returned with an improved offer in mid-December but, nearly two months on and well beyond a deadline of January 17, they are still waiting for NE’s response.
Temporary Chief Constable Mike Barton said: “We are an organisation that enforces the law so it’s obvious that we’ve got to follow the law as well. We’re comfortable with that.
“But there’s a slight degree of frustration. I want to get into the new headquarters, so we can start making the savings from having a much smaller building.”
The current 1960s-built HQ costs £1.6m a year to maintain, needs £4.7m of repairs and chiefs say it is no longer fit for purpose. Its successor will be £2,000-a-day cheaper to run, saving around £750,000 a year.
The newt was found well beyond the proposed headquarters site. However, its discovery triggered the imposition of a 500m exclusion zone, which reaches onto the plot.
Assistant Chief Officer Gary Ridley said: “We’re trying our best to get this resolved as quickly as possible but unfortunately we’re in the hands of a statutory agency.
“We’re sitting here with a scheme that’s ready to go.”
When contacted by The Northern Echo, a Natural England spokesman issued the following statement: “We are treating this case as the highest priority.
“We are working flat-out to process the licence application and hope to complete this in the next few days.”
The quango has suffered major funding cuts in recent years, leaving officials extremely overworked.
It has been reported the Government is considering going one step further and merging it with the Environment Agency, under its “bonfire of the quangos”.
Durham Police gained planning permission for the new HQ last June. The force plans to demolish its current base, just across the road, to make way for around 230 homes.
Comments(26)
Voice-of-reality
says...
3:25am Fri 8 Feb 13
cupid stunt
says...
7:36am Fri 8 Feb 13
greenfinger
says...
7:46am Fri 8 Feb 13
bishop1
says...
8:18am Fri 8 Feb 13
greenfinger wrote:pretty much :)
so if i go and find a newt of the same kind and put it on mount oswald golf golf it'll stop the entire development?
Spy Boy
says...
11:04am Fri 8 Feb 13
Spy Boy
says...
11:06am Fri 8 Feb 13
always right
says...
11:23am Fri 8 Feb 13
always right
says...
11:26am Fri 8 Feb 13
always right
says...
11:26am Fri 8 Feb 13
loan_star
says...
12:29pm Fri 8 Feb 13
matt3001
says...
12:34pm Fri 8 Feb 13
cromwell1599
says...
12:50pm Fri 8 Feb 13
battboy77
says...
1:22pm Fri 8 Feb 13
matt3001 wrote:matt3001.......Get a grip of yourself, cupid stunt was only kidding...there there its alright now shhhhh go to sleep!!!!
how can you just kill the newt it is a protected species by killing or touching or moving you face a massive fine if not imprisonment
Five 0
says...
1:27pm Fri 8 Feb 13
Now there's a thought!
Captain Hindsight
says...
2:12pm Fri 8 Feb 13
You mean like the Police?
“We’re sitting here with a scheme that’s ready to go.”
Except you can't...because of the law!! This aggressive and bombastic mini-statement says a lot about the attitude that prevails here. DC has enjoyed vast estates far beyond it's needs for years, with empty sports facilities that should have been open to Durham families and children for years. They could redevelop on the huge existing site but the cash register is ringing, and they would rather obliterate another piece of open space which also encroaches on areas that contain deer and woodpeckers.
The duties of Natural England should not be dismissed because they are a quango, someone would have to do it
battboy77
says...
2:19pm Fri 8 Feb 13
What an absoloute pile on red tape Tosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Loopy74
says...
3:25pm Fri 8 Feb 13
It is ridiculous though that these delays are taking place and costing yet more money when DC are apparently struggling to balance the books, it'll as always cost the tax payers more money or mean more people lose their jobs
the-big-yin
says...
3:35pm Fri 8 Feb 13
cromwell1599 wrote:" NEWT CLEAR " POWER
NEWT POWER !!!!
spragger
says...
11:15pm Fri 8 Feb 13
Or .. Call for RedKen Livingstone. . .
Voice-of-reality
says...
2:28pm Sat 9 Feb 13
Lifetime Townie
says...
4:55pm Sat 9 Feb 13
Pity it can't speak English!
greenfinger
says...
8:04am Sun 10 Feb 13
Lifetime Townie wrote:typical uk resident then!
Was it planted to create delay to the project or was it in it's usual habitat?
Pity it can't speak English!
IanfromCrook
says...
1:24pm Tue 12 Feb 13
Voice-of-reality wrote:totally agree with this statement
Even better idea - as the public are against the Mout Oswald development and the university needs more space and the police less....... University turns old police HQ into student rooms and the police take a smaller building in the form of old shire hall (also next to the police station if you walk round theback). Oh the simple economies of scale - but why should public bodies not waste money - they care not - its not their money
IanfromCrook
says...
1:26pm Tue 12 Feb 13
greenfinger wrote:Good luck, , , , , ,Durham's Newt-on bomb.
so if i go and find a newt of the same kind and put it on mount oswald golf golf it'll stop the entire development?
oxgene
says...
4:24pm Tue 12 Feb 13
greenfinger wrote:Brilliant!!.........
Lifetime Townie wrote:typical uk resident then!
Was it planted to create delay to the project or was it in it's usual habitat?
Pity it can't speak English!
Voice-of-reality says...
3:23am Fri 8 Feb 13
There is no need to move Headquarters. there is a simple way to reduce costs inhe present building as it is too big.
Use only the first two floors, switch off the lights and the heating to the rest and allow FOURTEEN MILLION to pay the bills for at least the next few years . the new property may cost 2,000 less per day to run but there are an awful lot of £2,000 in 14 million before the new building 'makes a profit'.