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Many people do not think twice about trampling over a spider or beetle while walking on grass. But insects have rights, too, and today in the High Court a charity is to defend the right for the creepy-crawlies to live undisturbed on the West Thurrock marshes along the Thames in Essex.

Buglife, the conservation trust for invertebrates, is fighting for the right to survival for endangered species including a rare spider that resembles a teddy bear - the distinguished jumper (Sitticus distinguendus).

This creature is found on the West Thurrock marshes, one of only two of its habitats left in Britain. More importantly, it is found on the Government’s biodiversity conservation list, which requires that the species be protected.

Yet Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation has approved the development of a gigantic distribution centre for the Royal Mail and car parks that would concrete over an area the size of 15 football pitches and threaten the spider with extinction.

The plan would destroy 70 per cent of the flower-rich grassland and warm soil that provide vital nourishment for the distinguished jumper and 36 red-listed species, whose survival is considered to be threatened.

The land may look an unremarkable piece of scrub and its wildlife population is barely visible, but for Matt Shardlow, director of Buglife, it is as important to Britain as the rainforests to Brazil. He has decided to use £30,000 to bring a judicial review application against the government-appointed corporation in the first legal challenge under recent wildlife protection laws. The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 places a legal duty on all public bodies to have regard to the conservation of important species.

Mr Shardlow believes that the corporation failed in this duty and should have identified an alternative site where development would have caused less damage to wildlife.

He said: “The planet is on the crest of the biggest extinction event since the dinosaurs died out . . . It is generally accepted that pushing species towards extinction is immoral; this case will tell us if our laws and planning policies enshrine this principle and protect the future health of the planet.”

Buglife also claims that the corporation failed to protect important conservation species and failed to conduct a thorough environmental impact assessment.

The bug’s day in court today is before Mr Justice Mitting. He has to decide if the development corporation followed the correct procedures as set out in the law. If he finds against the body, he can order a new planning process.

In path of the bulldozers

Distinguished jumper, right (Sitticus distinguendos)

Brown-banded carder bee (Bombus humilis)

Redshanked bumblebee (Bombus ruderarius)

Saltmarsh shortspur beetle (Anisodactylus poeciliodes)

Humpbacked red ant (Myrmica bessarabica)

Source: Buglife

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