The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have awarded a £270,000 contract to compensate for the loss of habitat for Great Crested Newts (GCN).

The Environment Agency (EA) is currently working on the Greatham North East and Greatham Marsh projects part of its efforts to "restore valuable habitat" within the River Tees Estuary, as well as work on the wider Tees Tidelands programme.

With funding of more than £30 million, the Tees Tidelands programme will realign flood defences, restore mudflat and saltmarsh habitat, and remove tidal barriers so migratory fish can return to rivers where they have been absent for hundreds of years.

The Greatham North East Flood Alleviation Scheme is the largest project in the Tees Tidelands Programme and focuses on two existing EA assets – Greatham Creek and Greenabella which currently protect nationally significant infrastructure.

For the Greatham NE project, Great Crested Newts have been identified as being present on site. To compensate for the loss of habitat as a result of the managed realignment (preferred option), the EA are looking to enter into an agreement with Natural England to secure a GCN District Level License.

Organisations joining Natural England’s district level licensing scheme, comply with the legal duty to protect great crested newts by pay for off-site compensation ponds instead of carrying out detailed surveys and applying for a mitigation licence.

Providing on site compensation habitat was among a number of options that have been considered - however due to Biodiversity Net Gain rules and lack of Environment Agency owned land, Defra says this option has been determined as not feasible.

The value of the District Level License totals to £270,639.60 – the contract has been awarded to Natural England.