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Couple barred from living in £1million house for year after protected newts move in after flood
Last updated at 02:37am on 28.03.08Since floods ruined their £1million home, John and Margie Histed have been squeezed into a caravan in the grounds.
That was eight months and £250,000 worth of repairs ago.
Yet the couple still can't move back into the house - because the great crested newt apparently got there first.
The slippery squatter was discovered when a blocked drainage ditch near the couple's garden sent water coursing through the property again last week.
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Frustrated: Margie and John Histed have been forced to live in a caravan since last year's floods
This time, because carpets have yet to be laid and renovations incomplete, the damage was minimal.
But the Histeds' plans to unblock the defective ditch have been refused - because officials suspect a family of great crested newts has settled in to it.
They have ordered a three-month survey to look for the protected species but this cannot even begin until June.
Work to remove any amphibians found would then take several more months.
This means the Histeds have had to put their renovations on hold, terrified that the ditch could flood again.
"I know it's the law but it's very frustrating and bordering on the ridiculous that the fate of newts takes precedence over humans," said Mrs Histed, a 68-year-old retired doctor.
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Rare: The great crested newt is protected by British and European legislation
"Is it reasonable for us to just sit here and watch if the ditch floods our home again just because there may be some newts there?"
The Histeds' six-bedroom farmhouse is close to the M4 at Dauntsey, Wiltshire.
Last July, a drainage ditch which runs through their garden became blocked with debris nearby and burst its banks.
Three feet of water gushed into their home and the couple have spent the last eight months re-wiring the house and replacing the kitchen, boiler and central heating system.
They were just starting the final stages of repairs when they were flooded again last week.
It then emerged that the drainage ditch, which takes run-off away from the motorway, is still blocked.
They wrote to the Highways Agency asking for permission to unblock it but this was refused.
Instead, officials ordered the newt search, saying staff would have to comb the water by hand to look for the three-inch creatures.
However, the survey cannot start immediately because the newts might be breeding and birds in hedges and trees along the ditch might be sitting on eggs.
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Flood damage: The couple's Wiltshire home pictured in July last year
It is estimated that work will not begin for three months and that any operation to remove newts will not start before the autumn.
This leaves the Histeds contemplating a long summer of discontent in their caravan.
Mr Histed, 71, a retired computer consultant, said the couple already had a healthy newt population in a pond on their ten acres of grounds.
"It's not that we're not sympathetic towards wildlife - in fact, we're very keen on it and understand the need to protect certain species," he added.
"But it seems ridiculous that we can't protect our property from more flood damage for many months because newts may be there."
The great crested newt is protected under EU law as well as the Wildlife and Countryside Act. It is illegal to capture or kill it or disturb its habitat.
Last month, work on a £15million bypass for the village of Earl Shilton, Leicestershire, was suspended so £1.7million could be spent to protect one single great crested.
A spokesman for the Environment Agency said that under EU law, anyone who intended to disturb any watercourse had a duty to check for newts first.
Possible habitat: The drainage ditch which could be home to newts
Reader views (5)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
How absurd!
- Mel Barrows, Tenerife. Canary Islands
An EU ruling on protected species apparently. Whatever common sense might be left in this country is clearly outweighed by the force of the Brussels apparatchiks. Of course European protected newts are more important than British people's homes.
- Peter Haldane, London
Has nobody though of digging a second drainage ditch so that the original can remain undisturbed? What a ludicrous situation.
- John B, Bedford
Perhaps they could get Mr Livingstone down there to form a protest circle or do something else that the silly pointless little man does on a regular basis?
- L Jasper, Notting Hill
It's ludicrous ... the Great Crested Newt is obviously not all that rare in the area. Is the Great Newt Fancier, Ken himself behind this?
- Paul, London
