$40M construction project may be delayed after endangered snails found

By Georgia Lambert and Gerry Warren via SWNS

The construction of a $40M bypass could be delayed after an endangered snail the size of a seed was discovered on the proposed site.

The Desmoulin’s Whorl snail is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species requiring special protection and has a shell measuring only one-tenth of an inch.

However, the minuscule mollusk could be big enough to delay the bypass at Canterbury, Kent.

In 1996, the same snail was the subject of a high court challenge, after wildlife experts failed to save the rare species from a $102M bypass that was later built in Newbury, Berkshire.

Although in that case the snails were relocated to safety, environmentalists claimed that the population still suffered.

According to the UK government’s advisor Natural England, the Desmoulin’s Whorl species are found in chalky wetland grasses and the creatures depend on the maintenance of existing hydrological conditions to survive.

Despite authorities recognizing the Desmoulin Whorl snail as a priority species in Kent, it has been facing habitat degradation by climate change and multi-million-pound construction projects for the last 25 years.

Biff Whipster, a volunteer river warden for the Kentish Stour Countryside Partnership found the snail living amongst the reeds where the new link road will cross.

He claims its presence has been “glossed over” in an ecology report published by Kent County Council.

The 54-year-old environmental activist has insisted that the bypass project, which will stretch for nearly a mile from a new junction on the A28, over the River Stour to the railway line, must be abandoned in order to protect the species.

He admitted the council-commissioned environmental report was fair and accepted it had flagged up the location of the snails 150 yards away from the proposed viaduct.

However, he claims the authority ignored a crucial footnote saying that when it got wetter they expected the snails to move away from where they are.

According to Whipster, the report said that following two dry summers - during which the snails had concentrated their population in a damp ditch - it was believed they would spread again when the weather was more typically wetter.

“They chose to ‘green-wash' that bit, which happens all too often when authorities select evidence to suit their own agendas," he said. "I'm a deadly serious middle-aged father who's going to stand my ground to call out Kent County Council's 'cherry-picking' and disregard of the evidence that was gathered to inform their decision making."

Whipster said it took him five minutes to find some snails, meaning they have returned to that area.

"I have no issue whatsoever with placing myself physically between any construction activity and the snails and get arrested, as will others, I understand," he said. “It's not just about a small snail, but the protection of our whole ecosystem, which is under threat. Sometimes you have to ‘die in a ditch’ for what you believe and I am prepared to do what it takes to stop this new road.”

Kent County Council said work on the link road is scheduled to begin in Autumn 2023 and end in the Summer of 2025.