English rare spiders saved from ‘developer’

This video from England says about itself:

Save Our Spider from extinction

2 February 2015

The Horrid ground weaver (Nothophantes horridus) is a critically endangered money spider that is endemic to Plymouth, but it’s being threatened by a housing development.

Spiders and bats are not closely related. However, they have in common that too many people consider them to be ‘creepy’, not really ‘cute’. If there are enough people in England to stand up for ‘non-cute’ spiders, then one should hope there are enough people to stand up for ‘non-cute’ bats as well.

From Wildlife Extra:

Rare spider saved from developers thanks to people power

One of the world’s rarest spiders has been given a fighting chance of survival, after an appeal by developers to be allowed to build new houses in an old quarry was dismissed earlier today.

The Horrid ground weaver (Nothophantes horridus) is a tiny money spider which has only been found in three sites in Plymouth, nowhere else in the world, and one of those sites has already been built on and lost.

Proposals to build a new development of 57 new houses on the second site, Radford Quarry – also a County Wildlife Site – would have destroyed the spider’s habitat and pushed it closer to extinction.

Independent experts at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) rated the spider as Critically Endangered and added it to the global Red List of Threatened Species.

Originally the development was refused by Plymouth City Council but the applicant appealed the decision and a planning inquiry took place in January and March.

Buglife launched a petition, which was highlighted on Wildlife Extra, and over 9,700 people signed to say they wanted to save the spider.

On 9 June the Planning Inspector announced that the case had been dismissed, stating that concern over the rare wildlife, notably the Horrid ground weaver, was the primary reason for rejection.

Andrew Whitehouse, Buglife’s South West Manager says: “What a fantastic result for wildlife. Buglife believe that to knowingly cause the extinction of a species, no matter how small, is morally wrong.

“We welcome the decision of the Planning Inspector to dismiss the planning appeal and protect this site for nature and for the local community.

“Thanks to all of our supporters and everyone who signed our petition to save the Horrid ground-weaver spider.”

See more about the appeal and rejection here.