Lizards are to be introduced to a Redbridge park from the site of a planned development in Thurrock.

Redbridge Council is set to welcome reptiles to Claybury Park in a plan approved by cabinet last week.

Nordor Holdings plans to build 161 new homes and more than 7,000 square feet of employment space in Churchill Road, Little Thurrock.

This will displace a small population of slow-worms and common lizards that the developer has agreed to pay to have moved to Claybury Park.

Redbridge’s cabinet agreed to go ahead with the scheme and sign a legal agreement which will be negotiated by Mark Baigent, interim corporate director of regeneration and culture and deputy leader Kam Rai.

Mark told the overview committee on April 11 that the scheme is “really exciting”.

He added: “The reptiles and slow-worms… will be brought into Claybury Park, which is a habitat suitable to introduce them into in a carefully managed way over several years.”

The costs of the scheme will be covered by Nordor Holdings, with estimates starting at £17,000 over a five-year monitoring period.

Schemes such as this, known as biodiversity offsetting, will become a legal requirement when developments destroy natural habitats from 2023 onwards.

A council report said it is the first time the authority is benefitting from a biodiversity offset scheme.

It added: "Improvements to Claybury Park as part of this approval will enhance the offer of providing high quality natural green space in Redbridge.

"In addition, the creation of new biodiversity will benefit more residents in Redbridge, long term, in relation to their access to open natural green spaces."

Claybury Park is described as an “ideal reptile habitat” by Tim Moya Associates, who prepared an ecological report on the scheme.

It said: “The western half of the park is dominated by ideal reptile habitats including a block of at least 15 hectares of mixed scrub and tussocky grassland.

“Translocation to sites within Thurrock would generally require either purchase and/or conversion of arable land into suitable reptile habitat, and an ongoing maintenance agreement to be adhered to in perpetuity by the private landowner.”