ONE of Britain’s rarest beetles will have to get used to a temporary change of home this week as sewage works are carried out in York.

Yorkshire Water is replacing pipework dating back centuries at Germany Beck, with the aim of connecting the area to the nearby Naburn sewage works and cutting pollution in the River Ouse.

But as the area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, the company had to make arrangements for one of the country’s last remaining populations of tansy beetle to be safeguarded during the project, which begins today. Yorkshire Water project manager John Bond said: “It was easier than it sounds to find the beetles as they’re pretty lazy and, from the end of September, return to the root of tansy plants. The plants were carefully dug up and moved, and as soon as we’ve completed the work we’ll be returning them to the site.”