Going batty over protecting wildlife?

MONDAY will, at last, see Worthing Council's planning committee decide whether or not to approve outline proposals for the West Durrington Development scheme.

Whatever one's views on the desirability of the 875-homes project, it has to be said that an impressive amount of work has gone into compiling the 182-page tome detailing all aspects of a development which will change irreparably the character of Worthing's "north-west frontier".

The arguments for and against this extra conurbation, and how it will affect people's lives, are all too familiar.

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But it's not only humans who are considered in the vast of amount of detail going before the committee.

The report emphasises Britain's reputation as a nation of animal lovers, although some people will wonder whether slavish devotion to wildlife conservation is always worth the cost involved.

Irish politicians are said to be "hopping mad" over a successful bid to spend 70,000 euros on a conservation survey to count the number of frogs in the Republic and Northern Ireland.

And the Swiss, who already have one of the world's strictest codes for animal protection/welfare, have just been asked to approve a referendum vote on whether to give abused animals their own lawyers!

The idea was rejected, however.

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But back to West Durrington, and it's nice to know that the planning application would restore four ponds for the benefit of great-crested newts.

Surveys have found that dormice are very thin on the ground '“ in fact, none have been seen!

But there are plans to restore their forage and nesting habitat in nearby woodland.

Bats and badgers have also enjoyed the ecological spotlight, but there doesn't seem to be any roosting or "setting" in the affected areas.

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The application provides for an infrastructure of school/library/medical centre facilities, etc., to cater for the new population, and avoid the "mistakes" of previous such developments.

And our attention was caught by an intriguing sub-heading, "Pubic Art".

Beneath this, though, was confirmation that 50,000 would be provided towards the provision of "public" art . . .

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