He’s been ousted from the job he had spent a lifetime yearning for and left parliament under a cloud in June, yet Boris Johnson can finally savour some good news. In a move paving the way for a post-Downing Street life befitting a former prime minister, Johnson has been given permission to construct a swimming pool at his Oxfordshire home. But the green light from South Oxfordshire district council comes with the proviso that steps should be taken to mitigate the risks the development might pose to nearby newts. The plans for the pool were thrown into doubt in July when a local government ecologist, Edward Church, objected because of a population of newts living in the grounds of the home. Johnson has been living there with his wife, Carrie, and their three children since he bought it. The newts in question are the great crested variety, or Triturus cristatus, as Johnson might well call them. A protected species under British law, the newts had previously been the focus of Johnson’s frustration in government, when he complained “newt counting” was holding back housebuilding. Since leaving Downing Street, he has also used a Daily Mail column to say he would do “whatever it takes to protect” newts. A council report now says that the option of using the council’s district level licence to provide compensation for any potential damage to the local newts has been initiated. Moves are also afoot to make use of an orchard to compensate for any additional impact on biodiversity, according to the same documents.
Rules drawn up by Natural England require that such planning applications demonstrate no risk to the great crested newt, or appropriate levels of mitigation and compensation. “There is a reasonable likelihood that GCN are present and could be impacted by the proposed development,” according to a report originally drawn up by Church, who reviewed the application. There is a pond on the property as well as a moat adjacent to the southern boundary. Given the existence of great crested newts in the village, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, the pool “falls within the red zone of highest risk to GCN [great crested newts]”, the report added. However, the objection was withdrawn on Tuesday following pledges from Johnson, who has previously spoken of creating “newtopia”, the Oxford Mail reported.