HEDGEHOG friendly features are being rolled out at David Wilson Homes Mercia's upcoming housing developments in Worcestershire.

The homebuilder recently won an award for its show home garden created in partnership with the RSPB at its Spinney Fields site.

The garden is full of features designed to attract wildlife. The garden scooped the temporary award in the Big Biodiversity Challenge Awards, which promote non-permanent environmental enhancements, such as green hording, a temporary green wall or a community engagement initiative.

Now the homebuilder is removing barriers to hedgehogs at its upcoming developments, including St Catherine’s Grange in Ledbury.

Hedgehog highways will be installed at all forthcoming developments wherever possible, with small holes made under garden fences allowing hedgehogs to safely pass through gardens.

The partnership between the RSPB and the developer is the first of its kind in the UK and aims to boost natural habitats at developments across the country, using updated landscaping and new guidance.

The Spinney Fields garden was one of the first of its kind in the country and the concept is now being rolled out at a number of its other new homes developments in the region.

John Fitzgerald, managing director at David Wilson Homes Mercia, said: “We are delighted to be furthering the success of our wildlife friendly show home garden at Spinney Fields and creating more gardens such as this. We will also be starting to implement hedgehog highways. It demonstrates we can build new homes and at the same time protect and enhance the biodiversity of a local area, benefitting the economy, creating employment and improving health and wellbeing for our customers and the communities we create.”

Adrian Thomas, the RSPB’s wildlife gardening expert, added: “Rough estimates put the hedgehog population in England, Wales and Scotland at just one million, compared with 30 million in the 1950s, so everything you can do to help these much loved garden visitors is welcome."