WORK on a major scheme to build 150 homes on the outskirts of Newport - including much needed social housing - is being held up by a rare colony of great-crested newts.

Construction of the homes cannot begin until English Nature is sure the newt colony on the proposed site has been successfully relocated to nearby ponds - and that could take anything up to three years.

Local builder Gallantgreen is seeking to build the homes on a three-acre greenfield site north of Newport CE Primary School and south of Petticoat Lane.

But the application has run into difficulties because English Nature insists the newts must be protected.

It says work can only begin when a replacement pond created on adjoining land is sufficiently mature to provide a suitable habitat for the amphibians.

Isle of Wight Council planning officer John Fletcher said: "This is a designated site for housing and we are keen for the site to come into use."

"But it is a greenfield site and with all greenfield sites there is a potential for this sort of issue to arise. It just happens that the great-crested newt presents one of the more difficult wildlife problems to overcome."

Cllr Ian Stephens, who chairs the Isle of Wight Council's select committee for social services, housing and benefits, called for a balance to be struck between the environmental and housing concerns.

He suggested that work on the houses could be staged or whether the newts could be decanted to a temporary home until the replacement pond was mature enough for their final relocation.

Though the application was lodged in June last year, it has taken planning officers almost a year to deal with the issue largely because of the concerns of English Nature over the newts.

The great-crested newt is Britain's most strictly protected, but most rapidly declining native amphibian. English Nature said there are only five known sites for great-crested newts on the Island, with three of them protected by law.

A Gallantgreen representative said it had been realised from the start that the newts would have to be moved and this would take time and money. That was why outline permission was being sought before the company went to such expense.