A haulage road that would take ten tonne lorries through rare animals’ habitats will be relocated.

Members of community group Aldborough Hatch Defence Association (AHDA) pleaded with Redbridge Council to move the road.

The group says one lorry would travel along it through Fairlop Waters Country Park every three and a half minutes.

Great crested newts, owls, bats and badgers all live along the route and would be threatened for years to come if the planned route went ahead, according to the community group.

The road was planned to allow lorries through the park to collect minerals from deposits nearby, but AHDA suggested other less environmentally damaging routes to the council at a meeting last week.

The group met with council leader Cllr Jas Athwal at the site in Fairlop Waters Country Park to discuss the impact of the planned road on Thursday November 22.

That evening, the group attended a full council meeting to present its concerns to the whole authority.

During the meeting, AHDA chairman Jenny Chalmers said: “An area that is one of the most biodiverse with a multitude of protected species, including reptiles, great crested newt, bats and badgers as well as various species of birds, is to be destroyed and flattened to build a road.

“It should be noted that these species cannot be interfered with unless under strict licensing conditions from Natural England.”

Ms Chalmers added that the group would urge the council to consider building the road on nearby open land instead.

Cllr Athwal then made an executive decision to move the road away from the animals’ habitats.

Addressing the community group, he said: “I want to check that we are all on the same page after our meeting earlier today. Is your request still to move the road to the nearby open land?”

The group confirmed this and Cllr Athwal simply replied: “Done.”

Fairlop Water Country Park has been a designated Grade I listed Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) since 1998 and was granted Metropolitan status last year to highlight its importance to the whole of London.