FURIOUS residents claim that plans to blast 350,000 tonnes

of rock from an old quarry will ruin their peaceful town and

destroy the habitat of rare peregrine falcons.

People living in Buckfastleigh, South Devon, are opposing

plans by Gilpin Demolition to transform Whitecleaves quarry

into a recycling plant for household rubble.

The company claims the proposal will bring jobs to the area

but residents say "incessant drillings and blastings" will

destroy their quality of life.

They also fear a rare community of nesting peregrine

falcons, together with a colony of horseshoe bats, would be

destroyed by any work.

Tonight residents will hold an emergency meeting to vent

their fury at the plans which are the subject of a planning

application to Devon County Council.

Peter Thornhill, a resident who will be chairing the meeting

said: "We believe Gilpin will be represented at the meeting and

I think people will leave them in no doubt what they think of

the plans.

"This is a site that is home to rare peregrine falcons and

is covered in trees. The birds were not here when it was a

quarry before, now we've got several pairs."

The quarry was mined for several decades by different

companies extracting rock for road surfaces. It ceased being

used about 10 years ago, leaving vegetation, trees and water to

cover a large crater.

In the 1980s many houses bordering the site were council-

owned, but today almost all of them are in private hands.

Mr Thornhill said: "People have moved here because of its

tranquillity. We have the A38 but the noise isn't constant.

"The peregrine falcons started coming here once the quarry

closed and they are resident all year round. On top of that we

have horseshoe bats living in the rocks. They have been here

for a long time but are a protected species."

He said any plans to chop down hundreds of mature trees from

both sides of the quarry would leave many birds and animals

"homeless and defenceless.

The proposed work at the site is expected to take three

years.

Some houses are 20 metres from the site.

Resident Chris Routley said: "There'll be incessant

drillings and blastings, which will have a tremendous effect on

the local community."

Georgina Gilpin, project manager, said: "The residents are

rightly concerned about the potential for noise and dust but

they are basing their perceptions on technologies used 10 and

20 years ago. If we start spreading dust across the gardens of

Buckfastleigh, the Environment Agency would close us down."