No money for butterfly officer

The butterfly's future is dependent on it feeding on violets

Plans for an officer to save one of Wales' rarest butterflies have been shelved because a local authority says it cannot afford it to fund the post .

Powys Council had hoped to come up with £20,000 to pay for an officer to manage a plan to save the pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly population in the county.

But the council's board has rejected the project because it says its overall budget is too tight to start on new schemes.

The £97,000 plan to encourage the endangered species to survive and expand at nine sites in Powys had already received backing from other bodies.

But the authority is set to make a two per cent cut across all services in the next financial year to try to save £2.5m .

It also wants to increase council tax by 9.5%, or £60 for each household.

Priority species

"At a time when the budget is under severe pressure, providing new schemes and new officers are looked upon critically," said a council spokesman.

"Because the budget is so tight, redundancies are being considered so the introduction of any new schemes that are not essential to services would leave the authority open to criticism."

The proposed scheme had already secured a £42,000 grant from the Welsh assembly as well as £30,000 from the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) and £5,400 from wildlife trusts.

"Board members also asked why Powys Council had been asked to provide to pay £19,950 towards an officer rather than the CCW," added the spokesman.

The pearl-bordered fritillary is a "priority species" for preservation in the UK.

Changes in woodland management in recent years have led to the decline of this once common species.

It can be distinguished by two silver 'pearls' on the underside of the back wing.