The East Coast town where badgers are making life a misery

A coastal town has been thrown into chaos by a clan of mischievous badgers leaving Lincolnshire's highways boss with a serious headache. Initially, there was going to be a 48-hour road closure at Seaholme Road in Mablethorpe after badgers tunnelled under the footpath and road, causing sections of the structure to collapse.

Expert teams were due to move the badgers while their sett was sealed. However, while the specialists were under the road securing the first set of tunnels, a second set of digging was found. This new set of tunnels runs under the second half of the road under the utilities buried at the site.

Councillor Richard Davies, executive member for highways at Lincolnshire County Council, says they must finish the work by the end of November or the road could be out of use until July 2025. He said: "The frustration with getting these badger works sorted is growing.

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"We are working as hard as we can to restore this road so that the people of Mablethorpe can get on with their daily lives in the way they expect. We can’t move the badgers without a road closure. Natural England also says that we must finish the work by the end of November otherwise we can’t get this collapse repaired until next year.

"And now we find that there are more tunnels, this time under the rest of the road. And this is going to complicate matters further, not in small part because of the restrictions placed upon us.

"Whilst the badgers are being very well accommodated, Mablethorpe road users are having to bear the brunt of some serious disruption in their area. It feels very unfair."

The county council will now not be able to lift the road closure on the road and return to temporary traffic lights as first planned. Seaholme Road will remain under full closure while the new set of badger tunnels are dealt with and the road reinstatement works are carried out.

Highways crews hope to have the road open again by November 20, but unforeseen circumstances could push this back further toward the end of the month. Councillor Davies added: "We have spoken to the bus companies as a matter of urgency, and we are putting extra people on shift to get this work done.

"Because everything has to be completed by the end of the month, we can’t try a temporary traffic light fix to ease traffic flow because if it doesn’t work and the badgers’ damage can’t be fixed quickly enough, then there is the risk that the road won’t be usable until next July.

"We can’t have that for Mablethorpe. It’s not the road user’s fault that this has happened and we need to get this issue sorted out, even with all the time restrictions that Natural England have placed on the works.

"I want to express our thanks to everyone affected by this so far. Your patience and understanding of what we’re trying to do in order to have the road usable and open again for December is very much appreciated. We will get this work completed as quickly as we possibly can."