Birds halt school project in Wales

Work on a £90,000 repair programme at Wales' Burry Port Junior School has been halted after the discovery of bird nests.

Contractors have been ordered to down tools by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) as it is illegal to disturb the group of swifts, burrowed in the roof of the school.

Part of the school will now be fenced off and will remain out of bounds to the 200 pupils until the job can be completed.

A spokesman for the RSPB said they were contacted by a member of the public as contractors arrived to start work.

A meeting will be held today (Friday) to discuss the situation, but it is possible the project may not resume until July.

Essential maintenance had already been completed at the school six weeks ago but there is substantial work needed to some of the walls of the building.

A spokesman for the council said: "There is work needed to be carried out and the funding is now in place. Unfortunately it has had to be delayed following advice that birds are nesting there."

It was made illegal to disturb any nesting birds as part of the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act.