AMBITIOUS plans have been unveiled to make Buckfastleigh the 'multi-million pound' bat capital of Europe.

Devon Wildlife Trust has revealed it is poised to submit a substantial application for cash to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

If successful it would put the town at the centre of a major conservation scheme highlighting the rare and protected greater horseshoe bat.

Buckfastleigh is home to the largest roost of the bats in Europe, 2,000 of them making their home in the town and in particular the controversial Whitecleaves Quarry site where developers want to operate a waste processing and recycling centre for incinerator bottom ash.<