18/09/2026
Great crested newts could throw a major spanner into plans for the controversial Piddington asylum camp, after campaigners discovered the Home Office's ecological assessment missed a wealth of protected wildlife living on the site.
Dr Claire Brenner, a resident with a zoology degree, found evidence of a breeding population of great crested newts, 12 species of bats including one nearly extinct in the UK, Oxfordshire's only breeding pair of nightingales, badgers and an otter, all seemingly overlooked because the Home Office consulted the wrong environmental records centre.
Since great crested newts are a European protected species under British law, developers must halt work and obtain a licence from Natural England if there's any evidence of their presence, potentially requiring costly relocation and replacement habitats before construction could proceed.
The findings now form the basis of a High Court legal challenge launched this week, with Dr Brenner warning that if ministers press ahead using "materially incomplete information," it "could be open to legal challenge," and even amount to a wildlife crime if work begins without proper licensing.
It comes alongside a separate judicial review effort from the Wrong Plan, Wrong Site campaign, representing 16 surrounding towns and villages, which is racing to raise the £250,000 needed to bring its own case against the scheme.
