Berwick cemetery badger sett relocation plan blocked

It is illegal to harm badgers or interfere with their setts

A council's plan to relocate two badger setts from a cemetery has been blocked by Natural England.

Families have repeatedly complained about foraging badgers damaging graves in Berwick's Tweedmouth Cemetery.

Northumberland County Council plans to build a fence but had also asked for permission to move two setts.

Natural England said closing the setts would "have a significant impact" on the badgers which would not be "proportionate to the level of damage".

Badger setts are legally protected and it is a criminal offence to interfere with one without government approval.

County councillor Isabel Hunter, who represents Berwick West and Ord and has family buried in the cemetery, including her mother, said the rejection was "frustrating".

Badgers have been causing damage in Tweedmouth Cemetery for about two years

"We don't want them culled," she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service, but added: "It's very frustrating.

"I was there last summer and it was really nasty what they had done to one of the graves.

"If I had been a member of the family I would have been really upset."

Ground penetrating radar equipment has been used to determine the location and extent of the underground tunnels the badger setts are made up of.

The analysis has found no risk to buried remains at a subterranean level from the badgers.

John Riddle, cabinet member for local services, said he was "very disappointed" with Natural England's decision and that "he agreed with residents' wishes to remove them from the cemetery".

Natural England did approve the installation of fences which should in theory stop more badgers accessing the cemetery.