WATCHET’S Tropiquaria Zoo looks set to be awarded extra funding to relocate animals that will be disturbed by the building of a roundabout at Washford Cross.

Last month, the County Gazette reported Tropiquaria would have to re-house three species of primates to another area of the zoo when the changes to the road take place, or risk losing them from the attraction all together.

Work is currently underway on an EDF Energy-funded roundabout at the junction of the A39 and the B3190, close to Washford, under its plans for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C.

The zoo applied for £191,516 for the move from a Community Impact Mitigation (CIM) fund given to West Somerset Council by EDF Energy to spend on improvements for communities most affected by the impacts of the Hinkley Point developments.

At a full council meeting last week, councillors decided to award the zoo £40,000 to relocate the endangered animals and a further £37,350 to move a play area in order to accommodate the new cages.

The money is subject to the agreement of the Hinkley Point C Planning Obligations Board who oversee CIM applications and to the approval of planning permission for new cages to be built.

“We are very happy that we have been given the money for the cages, but now we have to wait for planning permission,” said zoo director Chris Moiser.

“The application has been put forward and we are waiting to be accepted.

“If it is accepted we are hoping to get the work started by just after Christmas.”

The three groups of animals affected by the construction works and new road layout are the critically endangered cottontop tamarins, endangered gibbons and two elderly lemurs.

Tropiquaria’s application for planning permission is unlikely to be discussed before mid-December.

The work on the roundabout has already begun and is due to be finished by the end of July 2015.