As one of Wall Street’s most influential figures, Stephen Schwarzman is used to facing all kinds of challenges — and winning them.
But the Blackstone chief executive and co-founder has been forced to compromise over his latest project after coming up against an unlikely adversary: the great crested newt.
The issue emerged while Schwarzman, 77, was going through the arduous planning process required to develop Conholt Park, his personal estate in Wiltshire that he bought for a reported £80 million.
Council planners approved his proposals earlier this year, but on the basis that various conditions are met such as a “habitat mitigation and enhancement strategy” and an ecological management plan. This includes a requirement that all work stop if any great crested newts or reptiles are found during construction.
Stephen Schwarzman purchased Conholt Park in 2022
Schwarzman is said to have been updating Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, on the hoops he has to jump through to avoid disturbing the amphibians during the work. The pair had been due to have dinner together on Tuesday night, their third meeting, the Financial Times reported.
Allies of the chancellor told the publication that Schwarzman had previously regaled her with his personal experiences of trying to get things built in Britain.
Blackstone is also looking to build a big data centre at Blyth in Northumberland. Reeves is said to have reassured Schwarzman that she was doing everything she could to expedite such projects as she sped up and streamlined the planning process.
Schwarzman is said to have regaled Rachel Reeves about the planning ordeal
NATHAN LAINE/GETTY IMAGES
After the American businessman bought Conholt Park in 2022, he submitted building proposals including a new lake with a decorative structure known as an “eyecatcher” and a renovation of the stables.
Ecologists reported that Conholt Park was “unlikely to host terrestrial GCN [great crested newts]”, also known as the “warty newt”, although they found that other common amphibians may be present.
Protective measures include having a qualified ecologist on-site during “the clearance of vegetation of value to reptiles and amphibians”.
Schwarzman must also ensure that vegetation clearance works take place outside of the typical hibernation period. During the construction, a site-wide check for reptiles and amphibians must take place at the start of every working day.
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An ecological management plan adds: “If at any point [great crested newts] or reptiles are found during development, all works must cease until further advice has been obtained from a qualified ecologist and the relevant regulators.”
Almost black in colour, with spotted flanks and vivid orange bellies, great crested newts are protected due to their significant population decline. It is an offence to kill, injure, capture or disturb them, to damage or destroy their habitat, or to possess, sell or trade them.
Schwarzman isn’t the first high-profile figure to have to bow before the great crested newt. Last year, Boris Johnson found his plans to construct an outdoor swimming pool at his Oxfordshire home disrupted by the potential presence of the amphibian.
The former prime minister reassured nature lovers in his Daily Mail column: “If it turns out that our garden is so honoured and so fortunate as to be the home of some newts — great crested, palmate, whatever — I want you to know that I will do whatever it takes to protect them.
“If we have to build little newt motels to house them in their trips past the swimming pool, then we will. We will excavate new ponds in which they can breed. We will make a Newtopia!”
Great crested newts are the biggest newt species in the UK, but the least common. The creatures have been around for approximately 40 million years. Habitat loss is regarded as the main reason for the dramatic decline in numbers and remains their biggest threat.