Enabling routine works 

For large operators such as Network Rail, great crested newts can often bring significant delays to routine planned engineering works. 

As the rail operator embarked upon the biggest improvement programme to the Midland Main Line since its completion in 1870, so began a conversation with NatureSpace about how best to enable works whilst improving the natural habitat of the great crested newt, safeguarding the organisation’s commitment to the environment.

Typically, large infrastructure operators must apply for a new licence each time great crested newts are encountered or use a previous form of organisational licence which restricts the types of works which can be carried out. With complex work programmes in place, any disruption or delay can have a huge knock-on-effect on progress, on their customers and ultimately, on their reputation.

In discussion with Network Rail, we determined that a new licencing route available via Natural England would suit their operational needs when it came to the Midland Main Line Upgrade works. The NatureSpace Partnership works with leading experts and NGOs and provides cutting edge methods, technology and expertise to model and map suitable habitat for great crested newts. This means that impacts can be predicted with a high degree of confidence well ahead of works (no last-minute surprises) – and compensation delivered at a landscape scale to provide quantifiable net gain for newts and wider biodiversity. 

A simple solution

In an industry first, Network Rail has been granted a new type of organisational licence which ensures that any newt habitat impacted by the Network Rail teams working on the ground is compensated for by new habitat creation, ahead of impact, without causing delays to works.

Covering all works on the line between Market Harborough and St Pancras International, the licence simplifies the process across a significant geographical area and encompasses all aspects of Network Rail’s improvement programme – from setting up compounds to building railway embankments, clearing lineside vegetation to installing new equipment. The licence reduces the risk of unknown, unwanted costs cropping up as works continue, and provides greater programme certainty. 

Keeping the rail network moving

The great news is that for great crested newts (and indeed a whole host of other wildlife) is that this licence delivers a long-term and landscape-scale approach to conservation. Not only are individual newts moved out of harm’s way during rail operations, but together with our partners we are creating and managing high-quality ponds and habitats across the landscape, to increase the range, resilience and conservation status of newt populations (and a host of other Priority species and wildlife).

For Network Rail, the organisational licence removes a layer of bureaucracy in terms of planning and managing works, meaning they can react more quickly, avoid delays to engineering and be more agile in the way that they work. It also means that they can spend more money directly on their conservation efforts, which will benefit great crested newts and lots of other species.

And it’s not just rail networks that this approach can work for – any organisation which deals with large, complex infrastructure can gain better flexibility and improved operational efficiency, eliminating the need to apply to Natural England each time great crested newts need to be managed. 

We will continue working with Network Rail as the delivery partner for their organisational licence, providing high quality great crested newt habitat which is safeguarded and managed for at least the next 25 years as a part of our landscape level conservation strategy.