A HAMPSHIRE village will be the new home of a rare species of newt.

Seven ponds will be created in Bishopstoke to encourage the conservation of the great crested newt, among other species.

Eastleigh Borough Council has teamed up with the Newt Conservation Partnership to create eight hectares of high-quality terrestrial habitat and seven clean water ponds at Stoke Park Farm.

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A great crested newt (Image: Eastleigh Borough Council)

Anna-Marie Dennis, project officer for the Newt Conservation Partnership, said: “We are very excited about the project, which will bring together the creation of new ponds with hedgerow creation, scrub planting, tree planting, and grassland enhancement. This will allow great crested newts to move about the landscape in sheltered safety; like all amphibians, newts spend most of their adult life on land returning to ponds to breed in the spring.

"The new clean water ponds will differ in size and depth to provide a variety of different habitats benefitting great-crested newts as well as other priority species like toad and water voles, dormice, damselflies and dragonflies, butterflies and breeding birds.”

Pond creation and planting, all funded by the NatureSpace District Licensing Scheme, which sees developers pay into a fund that directly finances conservation work, is due to start in the autumn.

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The habitat created is to be secured for the long term, managed by Eastleigh Borough Council under an agreement for the next 25 years with annual monitoring to be undertaken by the Newt Conservation Partnership, ensuring the ponds and habitat are managed well for the benefit of wider biodiversity.

Councillor Rupert Kyrle, cabinet member for the environment, said: “I’m delighted to see this partnership project receive planning permission which will contribute significantly towards nature recovery within the borough. I’m looking forward to seeing how the habitats will develop and change over the next few years and seeing what species colonise the ponds, grassland, and hedgerows.”