Housewife Sally Pegg is horrified at the prospect of 20 lorries a day trundling past her garden to dump 40,000 tonnes of building rubble at a quarry overlooking her home.

The entrance for the vehicles would be next to her driveway in Denholme Gate Road, Hipperholme, to reach Common Woodhead Quarry.

Mrs Pegg, 38, said: "It's going to be a nightmare because the tipping would be for five years. It won't be much fun for my four-year-old son Loren to stand at the garden gate watching wagons rolling by.

"At the moment it is lovely and quiet in the garden but this will be ruined if the tipping goes ahead. We will feel like prisoners in our own home.''

She is secretary of Woodhead Action Group, made up of local residents fighting to stop Bradford company Yorkshire Stone Quarries using the quarry for tipping building waste.

They are worried about more traffic congestion on Denholme Gate Road and the loss of three public footpaths, wildlife and mature trees.

Mrs Pegg said: "The quarry was last used in the 1950s and since then it has become a local beauty spot enjoyed by walkers, horse riders and cyclists. And it attracts wildlife such as squirrels, badgers and hedgehogs.

Calderdale Council says planning permission for tipping granted in 1968 is still valid but there is some question mark over whether this approval allows for an entrance, site offices and parking on land - just yards from Mrs Pegg's driveway - next to the quarry.

The firm has applied to the Environment Agency for a waste management licence for permission to tip but the Council's environment committee is to write to the agency expressing reservations about the planning consent.

Environment committee member Councillor John Foran (Con, Hipperholme and Lightcliffe), said: "The planning permission granted in 1968 cannot be denied but members have raised serious concerns about whether this includes use of land for the site offices and parking.''

But Mary Holt, planning consultant for Yorkshire Stone Quarries, said the planning permission allowed for temporary buildings on the site and use of land on or near the site.

She said the company would abide by legislation to protect the footpaths, trees covered by a tree preservation order and the environment.

Mrs Pegg said: "We've accepted we can't stop the company tipping at the quarry but we can fight to prevent the use of the land nearby. I am going to write a long letter to the Environment Agency explaining our case."

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