A north-east construction boss has been fined and told he is “fortunate” no badgers were killed after his firm bulldozed over their natural habitat to build an access route.
Bruce Allan, director of Malcolm Allan Housebuilders, was fined more than £9,000 after his firm accepted responsibility in court for allowing a track to be built on top of active setts where up to 30 badgers lived in Milltimber.
Allan’s firm had been warned by a resident that the protected species was present at the Contlaw Road site, but had received a “brusque reply basically telling him to mind his own business”.
Despite the setts being destroyed or severely damaged, no evidence was found that badgers had been killed by the firm’s actions, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Before handing down her sentence, Sheriff Lesley Johnston told Allan that his actions had “caused considerable upset to the local community” and that despite warnings from residents he had “continued with the construction”.
However, she added that she accepted that Allan had shown “regret” following the decision.
Allan, 57, was fined a total of £9,350.
Speaking after the sentencing, Karon Rollo, head of The Crown Office’s Wildlife and Environmental Crime Unit, said: “The law protects badgers from harm.
“Bruce Allan’s actions were carried out deliberately, with disregard for the consequences they would have for a protected species and the upset and outrage to the local community.
“Hopefully this prosecution will remind other builders and developers that they will be held to account for their failure to fulfil their obligation.”
Ms Rollo told the court that following the sale of the Contlaw Road site to Malcolm Allan Housebuilders a Badger Protection Plan was included.
The protection plan stated that a 30-metre exclusion zone had been created to protect the badger setts from all construction works.
Ms Rollo said local residents made repeated calls to the firm in the days before the land was levelled to voice concerns about setts being near where work was beginning.
In response, one man received “a brusque reply basically telling him to mind his own business,” the depute fiscal said.
“On June 26 2020 the accused instructed a digger driver to dig and clear land at the locus to construct a road,” Ms Rollo continued.
“The accused failed to advise the digger driver of the Badger Protection Plan in place and the required precautions to follow.”
Ms Rollo said that another resident managed to halt the dig by informing the digger driver that there were badgers present in the area.
Allan met the woman at the site that day and was shown the sites of the badger setts but she stated he “wasn’t unduly concerned”, the court was told.
The woman returned the following day to find the site had been bulldozed and the land flattened.
Allan pleaded guilty to allowing workers to dig, level and clear land that contained badger setts on June 26 2020 whilst acting in his capacity as director of Malcolm Allan Housebuilders.
‘You were reckless to the impact of the badgers’
Sheriff Johnston told Allan: “The development itself had been specifically designed so as not to interfere with the setts and it was a later decision by your company to construct an access route for construction traffic on June 26 2020 that caused the sett to be damaged.
“Prior to the construction of that route, you discussed matters with your operations manager and thought wrongly that the construction of the road did not pose any environmental difficulties and would not cause disruption to the sett.
“However, you accept that in such a misunderstanding into the impact that route would have on the sett was clarified by a local resident in the area.
“She attended the site on June 25 2020 and spoke to you at the site while taking you to the location of the sett – she specifically pointed them out to you.
“Despite her warning, you continued with the construction.”
She added that the decision to proceed with the construction of the track despite being told the location of the setts “is an aggravating factor that I must take into account”.
“In proceeding as you did you were reckless to the impact of the badgers and the setts,” she added.
“It’s fortunate that no badgers were hurt or killed as a result of the construction of the track.”
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