Housebuilder provides homes for all

When Persimmon Homes East Midlands inherited a plot of land in Yaxley as part of the takeover of Westbury Homes in 2006, the company found out that it also inherited a few residents– of the newt variety!

Adrian Evans, managing director for Persimmon Homes East Midlands, states: “As a responsible housebuilder, we take our role within the local communities and natural surroundings within which we build very seriously and therefore we are making every effort to ensure that the newts on our land are protected.”

As part of Persimmon’s commitment to the environment, the company employed a ‘Newt Consultant’, Dr Clive Cummins, of AHAS Ltd, who has been involved with the project at Yaxley for over three years.

Dr Cummins comments: “To guarantee all the newts are relocated safely, we divided the field up with a series of fences, allowing me to check and clear individual sectors of the site one at a time.

“Newts only emerge from the ground at night, usually when it’s wet, which meant I had to spend many a damp evening in the field and only when I’d spent ten consecutive nights searching without finding a single great crested newt was that part of the site deemed suitable for construction.”

Adrian adds: “As part of the development, we will be providing a two and half acre area of public open space for the benefit of the human residents. We are also creating an area of nature reserve which will include the newt’s new habitat.”

Persimmon Homes East Midlands will be building 161 new homes, 45 of which will be made available for the local housing association and there will be a mix of two to five bedroom properties on offer.

Construction of the homes and infrastructure is currently taking place.

If you are interested in the homes being built at Yaxley, visit Persimmonhomes.com.