Great crested newts are Britain 's largest and most endangered species of newt. They generally live within 500 metres of ponds, where they lay their eggs during the breeding season between April and June. These newts are often the cause of disruption for planning developments in towns and because of this generally have a bad reputation.

Great crested newts are one of the species listed on the Biodiversity Action Plan. They are listed on Annexes II and IV of the EC Habitats Directive and Appendix II of the Bern Convention. It is protected under Schedule 2 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc.) Regulations, 1994, (Regulation 38) and Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Numbers of this species of newt are declining due to loss of suitable breeding ponds, which are either being filled in for town development or farming, used for fishing or just general degradation or neglect. Areas with several ponds are becoming fragmented and populations cannot inter-mingle and if one breeding pond becomes poor, newts are unable to reach the next.

This project is run jointly with Durham Wildlife Trust and Darlington Borough Council and funded through the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The aim of the project is to map all great crested newt sites within the Darlington Borough. Much of the information is old and certain ponds may have dried up or no longer host great crested newts.

All known ponds, with records of over 5 years old will be re-surveyed to accrue up to date information which will be readily available to planning departments and conservationists. This will speed up the planning and development processes as well improve the survival of great crested newts.