WORKERS at a North Craven quarry will have to wait another month to find out if their jobs are secure for a few more years.

An application for an extension to extract gritstone from Dry Rigg Quarry, at Helwith Bridge, for a further four-and-a-half years to the end of 2009 was recommended for refusal at this week's meeting of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority's planning committee.

A number of quarry workers and their dependent families had gathered outside the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes, where the application was to be discussed, to object to the closure.

However, the decision was deferred for a month to allow members to organise a site visit.

The application is to extend permission already granted for owners Lafarge Aggregates to work the quarry until July 2005.

The plans include changes to the operating procedures and the restoration and aftercare of the site.

These include limiting road haulage from 7.30am to 3.30pm Monday to Friday, with no weekend deliveries; the removal of roadstone coating plant by mid 2004; a restoration scheme to create a raised bog and upland wetland and fen system, and an extended 20-year after-care period to 2030 with the establishment of a management committee.

The planning history of the site dates back to two planning applications approved in 1951 and 1958. In 1993 the planning committee agreed to allow quarrying for a further 12 years, and the restoration of the site the following year.

At present Lafarge is due to cease operation at the site in two years, but it is asking for additional time to extract the 1.5 million tonnes of unworked gritstone reserves.

When planning permission was granted initially, the company estimated that production would continue at around 400,000 tonnes per annum. However, it claims that a significant reduction in demand for aggregates in the late 1990s meant less stone was quarried than anticipated.

The application before the national park authority was therefore not an extension to the amount of quarrying at the site, but for more time to extract the quantity of stone already anticipated.

"We don't want to take any more stone out of the quarry, just continue taking out what was always intended," said assistant manager Mik Cardus.

Mr Cardus has been at Dry Rigg for 23 years. His father and grandfather worked for almost half a century at other local quarries.

"All we are asking for is an extension to the time. It will help keep local people employed at the quarry in work for a few more years. Most of the people there have families with young children and are the main bread winners," he said.

The site currently employs 15 full-time workers, but he said that including hauliers and ancillary workers the number of people affected was nearer 40. He added that its closure would also have a knock-on effect in the economy of the area, particularly Settle which he claimed could end up a ghost town.

Roger Moran, of Floyd Schofield, owns 13 wagons, four of which are used entirely in connection with the quarry.

He said: "The quality of the stone from the quarry means we often transport loads to the south of the country. Our business relies a lot on the work generated from the quarry."

Following the decision to defer the application for a site visit, Lafarge Aggregates issued a statement saying it was pleased a decision had been deferred and felt substantial support had been gained from the local community and wildlife interest groups.

It read: "We are pleased that the committee has deferred its decision.... we need the extra time to finish what we have started. The extra years sought will allow us to complete an innovative quarry restoration scheme that will considerably enhance wildlife biodiversity in the area as well as assisting Settle High School - Lafarge is funding a partnership with the school and college to monitor wildlife trends around the site - to enhance its curriculum."

A site visit has been arranged for Friday February 28 and it is expected the application will come back to the planning committee in March.

o Horton-in-Ribblesdale Parish council supported the protestors when they met on Monday.

The Dry Rigg employees and their families revealed that a petition around Settle and along the lorry routes collected around 700 signatures in just over three days.

Coun David Gallivan said: "I think we should support the quarry, reaffirm our commitment."

Chairman Coun Sheila Millman agreed: "We supported the application when it came in and we still support it."

Dry Rigg produces a particularly hard wearing gritstone that has been used on runways at Manchester Airport and airstrips in the Orkney Isles, as well as being put to use on road projects throughout the country.