Congestion, pollution and noise will increase if a Denholme quarry takes excavated material from work on a new road.

Owners of the Hallas Rough Quarry, in Denholme Road, have applied to the council for permission to move 300,000 cubic metres of excavated spoil from the new Bingley Relief Road to the site.

The road is set to be built over the next three years -- the length of the quarry's intended contract if granted.

But the Aire Valley Conservation Society believes such a move would have a devastating effect on Halifax Road, The Twines, Harden, Bingley and Keighley -- likely to form part of the hauliers' route.

Society secretary Penny Ward said: "We are looking at between 55 and 100 heavy goods vehicles per day moving up and down Halifax Road.

"That road is congested enough by slow-moving vehicles. There are alternatives that need to be investigated before permission is given. We think this is going to have a horrendous effect on residents."

But Councillor Russell Driver, of Denholme Town Council, said members were not greatly concerned by the application.

"The only stipulation we've asked for is to keep on the major trunk road and not come up Thornton Road and through Denholme," he said

Dennis Gillson, spokes-man for the quarry company, said: "This is the nearest site to the road available. There will be less traffic than if we took it to a different site. We are only two-and-a-half-miles away from the road."