Tunnels for dormice a ‘dubious’ measure
I CAN’T be the only reader who was puzzled by your report in the Observer (January 20) that the proposed Bexhill-Hastings Link Road is to be provided with ‘dedicated tunnels for dormice’.
After all, dormice normally move about only from tree to tree, seldom descending to ground level (except when hibernating) and are most unlikely ever to go underground.
On making enquiries about this, I find that in places where dormouse populations have become isolated as a result of tree felling (their habitats consequently becoming fragmented) aerial ‘tunnels’ have sometimes been constructed to enable them to negotiate gaps of a few metres between trees.
Perhaps it is ‘tunnels’ of this sort that the promoters of the scheme have in mind? If so, the proposed ‘tunnels’ would need to be much longer than those I’ve mentioned, hardly attractive to dormice, still less when the roar and dazzling lights of traffic are passing to and fro below them.
Do the promoters seriously think that this dubious concession to wildlife would do anything at all to reduce the severe environmental impact of the proposed new road?
It’s not surprising that this bizarre measure was greeted with laughter when announced in the House of Commons.
RICHARD HOLMES
Float Lane
Udimore
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Weather for Hastings
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South west
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