Suffolk house builder adopts Hedgehog Highway plans

Hopkins Homes has joined the nationwide Hedgehog Street campaign run by charities The British Hedgehog Preservation Society and People's Trust for Endangered Species.

The new Hedgehog Highways allow the small creatures to move freely between gardens in search of food, family and nesting materials.

Rural Hedgehogs are listed as 'vulnerable to extinction' on the red List for Britain's mammals, with at least half lost since 2000.

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Hopkins Homes is installing the first Hedgehog Highways near Woodbridge. (Image: Hopkins Homes Ltd)

Factors contributing to this decline include the destruction of their habitats, increasing road traffic and the use of pesticides, which makes it increasingly harder for hedgehogs to find food.

Simon Bryan, group development director, said: "This campaign is critical in helping to reverse the decline of hedgehogs in the wild.

"As a local developer, we care very much about our environmental and social responsibility, so I'm delighted that we are playing our part in helping to safeguard the future of this much-loved creature."

Hopkin Homes' Grundisburgh Vale and Wickham Gate developments near Woodbridge are one of the first sites to incorporate the Hedgehog Highways.

Hopkins Homes has created Hedgehog activity packs. (Image: Hopkins Homes Ltd)

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Monika Hanlon, group sales and marketing director, added: "Our new showhome at Wickham Gate opens for visitors over the Easter weekend.

"Come and join us for a tour of this stunning new home and for our younger visitors, we have a Henry hedgehog activity sheet to keep them occupied, whilst helping to raise awareness of our spiky new friends."

For those wanting to help hedgehogs living near their homes, the Hedgehog Street campaign recommends making small holes the size of a CD case in garden fences or walls.