Councillor defies council to install hedgehog sign

A York councillor has put up a hedgehog warning sign himself after failing to persuade the city council to install one.

Liberal Democrat ward councillor Christian Vassie paid for and installed the sign in Wheldrake, following a 10-month campaign sparked by concerns over hedgehog deaths on the village's roads.

Vassie said at least five hedgehogs had been killed in the village over the summer. "It is bewildering that the council has sought to prevent warning signs being put up," he said.

City of York Council said warning signs were most effective where there was evidence wildlife regularly crossed a road, and this evidence in Wheldrake was "limited".

Residents first approached Vassie last year to ask whether warning signs could be installed on roads leading into the village.

Vassie said the campaign came amid national studies suggesting hedgehog numbers had declined by between 30% and 75% across the UK over the past two decades.

Hedgehogs are listed as vulnerable to extinction on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of British Mammals.

The councillor said government rule changes introduced in 2023 meant councils could install small animal warning signs without needing approval from the Department for Transport.

He said funding for four signs had previously been identified, but claimed the council had offered "one excuse after another" for not proceeding.

Vassie said a video documenting his campaign had been viewed more than 12,000 times and attracted support from people across the country.

"The signs are relatively inexpensive and surely anything we can do to slow traffic and protect endangered wildlife has to be a good thing," he said.

However, the council said warning signs were most effective where there was evidence wildlife regularly crossed a road.

Dave Atkinson, the authority's environment services lead, said: "Whilst there is evidence that there are hedgehogs in the village, there is limited evidence identifying local crossing points and consequently the council have not proceeded with a signage scheme."

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service the authority previously said spending money on hedgehog signs could divert funding from measures proven to slow traffic and save animals' lives.

Atkinson added that only the local highway authority was legally permitted to install signs on public roads.

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