A RARE colony of newts may scupper plans for a Longridge holiday village, but that's not the first time environmental concerns have given developers headaches. JENNY SCOTT looks back at how badgers, bats and even flying golfballs have caused last-minute hold-ups. . .

THE welfare of great crested newts probably wouldn't be an immediate concern if you were planning a prestigious holiday village.

But the possible presence of the rare creatures on a site at Longridge has put the skids on a proposal for eight holiday chalets and leisure lake.

Ribble Valley Council refused the plans last week after being told no study had taken place to see if the newts lived on the site.

And that's not the first time creatures have caused planners problems.

In June last year conservationists pleaded with planners to reject a bid for Les Enfants nursery in farmyard cottages on the Fernhurst estate at Ewood, Blackburn - because they claimed bats and tawny owls inhabited the buildings.

The Council for the Protection of Rural England claimed the colony of bats would disappear for good.

But Blackburn with Darwen planners said they'd found no bats there and the plans were approved.

Even an imaginary sighting of a protected species can be enough, however, to cause a temporary hitch to builders' plans.

In August 2001 residents thought they'd spotted a protected badger on a construction site at Spring Meadows, Darwen.

Building work ground to a halt until Blackburn with Darwen Council could carry out a survey - only to find there weren't any badgers after all.

Rare orchids were of concern on the site of Shuttleworth Mead business park, in Padiham, the same year.

The site - the former home of Padiham power station - was the subject of a multi-million pound clean-up by Burnley Borough Council, the Environment Agency and the developers.

But as part of a project which saw 15,000 wildflowers planted, hundreds of orchids had to be moved and replanted before development could go ahead.

One of the more bizarre planning amendments in East Lancashire came about as a result of human activities.

Back in July 1985, drivers on the new Easterly bypass, Accrington, were threatened by the prospect of badly-hit golf balls from nearby Baxenden Golf Club flying through their windscreens.

To protect drivers the developers decided to build a 30-foot high mesh fence between the road and the club's fourth tee, which was just 20 yards from the bypass.

Jon Hickling, a conservation officer with English Nature's Lancashire team, said: "Creatures have been protected under the Wildlife And Countryside Act since 1981. Most authorities are aware of the species they need to protect - like bats, badgers, red squirrels and great crested newts.

"Planners, consultants and developers should undertake surveys to look after these beasties, normally carried out by qualified surveyors. The surveys need to be carried out during the breeding season or populations disperse and it's impossible to assess how many creatures there are on a site.

"Depending on the amount of work involved and population size, the cost of these surveys can be between five and ten thousand pounds.

"But sometimes developers don't think about protected species until it's too late."