We write in response to the article on the current road repairs to the A338 Spur Road, (Lizards 1, Drivers 0, Daily Echo, November 17).

Dorset would be a much poorer place to live without its wonderful countryside and the unique wildlife that lives there.

On a global scale, Dorset’s lowland heaths are rarer than tropical rainforest!

Efforts to reduce the impacts of essential road repairs should not be seen as a battle between lizards and motorists but rather an attempt to strike a delicate balance between the protection of wildlife and providing good transport infrastructure.

The needs of Dorset residents and its protected species are both valid concerns and both must be carefully addressed.

More often than not, it is the wildlife that loses out as roads are driven through nature reserves and other natural areas.

We believe that carrying out the current works now (while animals are hibernating and birds are not nesting) will probably result in less disruption than it would if they were active and breeding, especially if this coincided with the influx of visitors and tourists that comes with the warmer weather.

Rowland Griffin, Dorset community officer and John Wilkinson, research & monitoring officer, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation