Transport Secretary Mark Harper made the announcement as he toured wildlife hospital Tiggywinkles in Buckinghamshire and saw how hundreds of hedgehogs a year are nursed back to health.

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The changes will simplify the process for local authorities to use the small wildlife road sign, meaning they will no longer need to ask for permission to the Department of Transport each time.

The design of the hedgehog on the sign will also be altered to make it more visible from a distance.

Speaking to The Sun during the visit, the Cabinet Minister admitted his Department is “full of prickly issues” and that “most of them are not as cute as hedgehogs“.

He added: “We will get back onto those on day to day basis but this has been a great visit and I hope the serious message is that we can have better road safety, better use of that sign and fewer collisions between motorists and animals.”

The signs – which feature a silhouette of a hedgehog – were launched in June 2019 to fill a gap between warnings over smaller creatures such as toads and larger animals like deer and livestock.

Councils wanting to use them had previously been required to obtain permission from the Government on a case by case basis.

At Tiggywinkles, Mr Harper was shown a disabled hedgehog receiving hydrotherapy and also how to check if the spiny mammal had reached optimal weight to make it through hibernation. 

“They are good swimmers. I did not know that”, he said. 

Mr Harper also revealed how in the past he had to assist other drivers who had hit animals on the road, noting “it’s not a nice experience”.

He went on: “So I think encouraging the use of the sign for small, wild animals as well as for signs that are in place for larger ones, I think that’s a good thing.”

Hedgehog numbers in rural areas in Britain are estimated to have fallen by between 30% and 75% since the year 2000, with traffic blamed as a major factor for their decline.

Department for Transport figures show 128 people were killed – with a further 11,071 injured – in accidents in Britain where an animal or object in the road was a contributory factor in the 10 years to the end of 2022.

The small mammal signs are also used to alert motorists about other animals such as squirrels, badgers and otters.

The decision to increase their use is part of Government efforts to boost road safety on rural routes.

Three out of five crashes in which young male car drivers die or suffer a serious injury in Britain happen on those roads.

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