THE amorous activities of a group of over-sexed newts have led to a £90m retail development being put on hold.

Great crested newts are a protected species and those on the development site on the edge of York were to be individually caught and moved to nearby wetlands.

But the wet summer provided an exceptionally good breeding season – and the newts had such a good time that their numbers rocketed from just five to more than 300.

And while work on the new Monks Cross retail development – including two superstores – was to have begun late last year, or early this year, it will now not be able to start until the spring.

Natural England rules mean developers have to lay humane traps to catch newts and check them every day during the capture period, after which they must be transferred to a designated habitat.

The rehoming process can only be considered complete when no newts have been caught on five consecutive days.

The newts are currently hibernating and their capture and rehoming will now depend on the weather, according to ecologist Dr Mark Hampton.

"They usually start emerging again when temperatures are consistently above five degrees, so at the moment it's just a rather frustrating waiting game,” he said.

Richard France, director of developers Oakgate, said: "Naturally I'm disappointed that work cannot start as early as we would have liked it to.

"However, as developers, we take our responsibility to the environment seriously and are making sure all the newts are appropriately rehomed in line with our legal requirements.”