OLD AND BUSTED: The Snail Darter and the Delta Smelt.

The New Hotness? Great crested newts could thwart Piddington migrant camp.

Great crested newts could scupper plans to build a camp near an Oxfordshire village to house as many as 1,256 asylum seekers.

Campaigners in Piddington, which voted to leave the UK in protest at the proposed camp, have unearthed records showing a plethora of protected wildlife next to and on its site.

In an apparent blunder, the Home Office’s ecological assessment of the area, submitted as part of its planning application, claimed that there was no evidence of protected newts, bats or reptiles.

Campaigners are claiming that unless the Home Office redoes its ecological assessment, and introduces protective measures possibly including moving the newts, it will be open to a legal challenge that could thwart the asylum camp.

The errors form the basis of a High Court challenge to the plans launched on Wednesday night.

Dr Claire Brenner, a resident with a zoology degree who uncovered the evidence, said: “If the Secretary of State determines this application with this materially incomplete information, that’s open to legal challenge.

“If they proceed to work on the site without a licence, then potentially it’s a wildlife crime.”

As one wag asked on X, “So let me get this straight… The Government care more about the safety of NEWTS than Women and Girls?”

Yes. Next question?