The species benefits from legal protection, their habitat must not be disturbed

Dec 9, 2013 15:23 GMT  ·  By
Great crested newts in Essex, UK force company to postpone plans to build a massive solar plant
   Great crested newts in Essex, UK force company to postpone plans to build a massive solar plant

British green energy company Lightsource was forced to postpone its plans to erect a massive solar farm in north Essex, UK after it was discovered that the region was home to newts belonging to a species protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

According to the Daily Gazette, the discovery of these protected amphibians has left Lightsource with no choice except postpone its plans to have 16,000 solar panels installed in north Essex by about 6 months.

“With regard to our Barn Farm application, despite providing extensive evidence that by adopting precautionary construction methods the development of a solar farm at this location would not present a risk to Great Crested Newts, the council has required the undertaking of Great Crested Newt surveys to establish whether any are present on the site.”

“These surveys can only be undertaken between mid-March and mid-May, and therefore we have withdrawn the application until such time as these surveys can be completed,” a spokesperson for Lightsource explains in a statement.

Seeing how this massive solar plant would rid our planet's atmosphere of about two million tons of CO2 on a yearly basis, here's hoping that Lightsource will eventually be given the green light to proceed with its construction.