RARE lizards living on the proposed site of a controversial waste treatment plant have been put at risk by the spraying of strong weedkiller, campaigners have claimed.
Council officials say they have treated land at the former tannery in Sinfin Lane in a bid to tackle the invasive Japanese knotweed.
But the site is home to common lizards – a species which, despite its name, has declined in number because of destruction of its habitat and which, before last year, was last seen in Derby in 1997.
A campaign group battling plans for a waste treatment plant on the site said it believed the herbicide could have affected the reptile colony by “physical injury, habitat destruction, chemical contact or reduced food source”.
The group, Sinfin, Spondon Against Incineration, accused the council of committing a “wildlife crime”.
And Derbyshire Wildlife Trust said it was “surprised and very disappointed” by the spraying, which took place earlier this month.
Jo Brown, a conservation manager with the trust, said she understood the council had not consulted with experts before spraying.
Mrs Brown said: “We don’t know what impact this chemical would have had directly on the animal because it’s not been tested.
“But clearly, if you are removing vegetation from the site then you are removing the habitat and the food source and we are concerned about that.”
Resource Recovery Solutions is the company behind plans for a waste treatment plant on the site which would deal with 180,000 tonnes of household waste a year, stopping it going to landfill.
Both the city council and Derbyshire County Council have signed a contract for RRS to deal with the county’s waste for 27 years and the plant is a major part of the firm’s plans.
But a planning application was rejected by the city council’s planning committee, a decision the company is appealing against.
The Derby Telegraph previously reported how the lizards had delayed the planning committee’s decision because RRS had to redesign some of the proposed landscaping on the site to cater for them.
Mrs Brown said planners had to take the lizards into account as they are protected by law from being killed, injured or sold.
She said that, if RRS won its appeal, the plan had been to move the lizards into a special zone on the site where they would be safe during construction.
The lizards will now be moved to this area before more spraying takes place.
But Mrs Brown said it was unclear whether this area had been sprayed.
She said: “If it has been the city council may have to re-locate them.”
A city council spokeswoman said the authority had now been advised that the lizard could potentially be affected.
She said: “This is why the council has in the past and will in the future work with environmental planning consultants. We have also agreed to work with the wildlife trust on its programme of capturing the lizards.
“Japanese knotweed is a very invasive weed and will spread across the site at an alarming rate if not controlled, engulfing other plant species. It is the council’s policy that Japanese knotweed will be treated where it is discovered on council-owned land.”