News

Rugby Western Relief Road (A4071)

The Rugby Western Relief Road (A4071) has now been open for just over a year and the first post-development monitoring surveys for protected species, namely great crested newts and badgers, have been undertaken.

We are pleased to report that both monitoring surveys have provided promising results. Monitoring of the mitigation ponds created for amphibians was conducted this spring, only a few weeks after planting had been completed. Whilst no great crested newts were recorded during these surveys, breeding populations of other amphibians were confirmed and great crested newts are likely to colonise these ponds in the near future once they are fully established.

The badger monitoring survey was conducted this week. Previous surveys were conducted in 2001 and 2006, prior to the road’s construction and subsequent opening in September 2010. Regular monitoring of the eight strategically placed mammal tunnels confirmed them to be in regular use before the road was active and this use continues to the present day. Even more encouraging is the fact that, on re-surveying all of the setts in the vicinity of the road, all main setts have remained active, with recent evidence of breeding. Some setts have been recorded as active for over ten years. This indicates that the construction of the road, with the integrated mitigation measures, has not had any negative impact upon the local badger population.

The photographs below show badger prints leading into/from mammal tunnels.