Burrowing badgers cause £100,000 damage to road

Badgers are mainly nocturnal animals and dig setts underground that can extend some distance

Badgers tunnelling under a road in Lincolnshire have caused £100,000 worth of damage, a council has said.

The mammals had dug a sett under the A52 at Seaholme Road, in the middle of Mablethorpe, according to Lincolnshire County Council.

Emergency repairs to the road would have to be carried out to stop it falling apart, a spokesperson for the authority said.

However, the council had had to wait for a licence from Natural England before the work could be carried out because badgers were a protected species, they added.

The authority had wanted to carry out the repairs earlier, but now the licence had been granted, it was running out of time to do the emergency work, according to the spokesperson.

All work on badger setts must be completed between July and the end of November so the repairs did not interfere with the badgers' mating season, they explained.

Seaholme Road joins the A52 which runs along the seafront at Mablethorpe

Councillor Richard Davies said: “In total, these works are going to cost us an additional £100,000 to complete.”

The Mablethorpe area already has road closures on the A1104 for resurfacing work, and Davies said the authority was aware of traffic flow issues in the town.

The A1104 scheme could not be paused as it was at a critical point, he said.

“Our hands are tied about scheduling these conflicting works," Davies explained.

"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."

Davies added that it was "extremely frustrating we have not been given this licence until now".

A condition of the licence issued by Natural England requires the works be carried out under a road closure, to ensure the safety of the badgers.

The council spokesperson said the work would be carried out between 09:00 GMT and 16:00 GMT from Saturday 8 November and Wednesday 20 November.

A three-way traffic light system would operate outside those hours so the road could be used.

Natural England has been approached for a comment.

Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.