Natural England grants last-minute licence for Lincolnshire County Council to get on with essential works to repair animal damage.
- Update 6 November 2024: A full road closure will be in place on Saturday 9 November and Sunday 10 November for repair work to take place. Outside of these dates, three way traffic lights will be in place.
Badgers have damaged part of a Lincolnshire road, and emergency repair works are needed to stop the route falling apart.
Seaholme Road in Mablethorpe has been subject to the subterranean mammals digging under the road structure. Highways officers have been eager to correct the damage before it gets worse, but because badgers are a protected species, have had to wait for a licence from Natural England before work could commence.
With the licence now granted, an emergency set of works can happen.
But there’s a catch – all works on badger setts have to be completed between July and the end of November due to the badgers mating season. Because of this, and the length of time it has taken to be granted the licence, time is now extremely short to carry out the essential work necessary.
And if the work isn’t carried out in time, the entire section of road will have to be closed until next year. Harsh winter weather will mean that the amount of rebuilding works necessary could not be undertaken until milder conditions return in the spring.
A condition of the licence to carry out the essential repairs is that Natural England requires works to be carried out under a road closure, to ensure the safety of the badgers.
For the Mablethorpe area, this has brought about a big traffic-flow issue with surfacing works also happening on the A1104. The A1104 works are already in place and operating under a road closure to ensure the safety of the crew and road users, so Lincolnshire County Council has had to work very quickly to be able to fit in the vital scheme on the badger-damaged road.
Cllr Richard Davies, executive member for Highways said: “It is extremely frustrating that we have not been given this licence until now.
“Because there is such a small amount of time left to carry out these works, we can’t avoid the impact on the area that these badgers – and our current A1104 scheme – will have on Mablethorpe’s traffic flow.
“We can’t pause the other scheme because it is at a critical stage of the work, and now we have to carry out these essential works to repair the damage that the badgers have caused.
“Our hands are tied about scheduling these conflicting works. We have no option but to get this additional programme up and running straight away. If there was any other option available to us, we’d take it.
“The official diversion route we have mapped out uses like-for-like roads as usual, which will mean that all traffic can follow the diversion without worry. Naturally, residents will know of alternative routes themselves that may well suit their needs also.
“We will lift the road closure and rely on temporary traffic lights at every available opportunity to help traffic flow around this badger issue whenever we can.”
Location of works
The badger-damage repair works will be carried out at Seaholme Road, Mablethorpe on the A52.
Dates and times
The works will begin on Saturday 8 November and have a scheduled end date of Wednesday 20 November. Work times onsite will be from 9am to 4pm, subject to suitable weather.
Traffic management
An emergency road closure will be put in place between 9am and 4pm with three-way traffic lights meaning that the road can be used outside of those hours. Note that this is subject to safety not being an issue when opening the road again. If there is any sort of safety concern, then the road closure will remain in place until the issue is resolved.
This will happen from Saturday 9 November with the plan in place to reopen the road fully by Wednesday 20 November. Staff will monitor the closure and set up three-way lights each day as necessary. This completion date may change should anything unforeseen be identified during the works.
Cllr Davies added “Thankfully, we have been able to work our current and emergency plans so that there is no direct impact on the Remembrance Sunday services, other than the diversion routes being in place during this time.
“In total these works are going to cost us an additional £100,000 to complete. Once done, the damaged that has been caused by the badgers will be repaired and the road will be fully safe and usable again.
“By moving quickly, now that we have the Natural England licence, we have been able to head-off what could have been a much-worse situation across the winter for road users in Mablethorpe.
“The lateness of this legal greenlight is frustrating. But now we can get on with the job, we will do everything we can to complete it quickly for Mablethorpe.
“Thank you to all who are affected by these works. Your patience and understanding of the issues faced is very appreciated by us in Highways and we will get this job delivered promptly.”
For up-to-date information about this and other roadworks, please visit www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/roadworks.