CAMPAIGNERS are urging Newton Abbot MP to step in over plans which they claim will obliterate a vital local wildlife haven.

Multi-national company Sibelco produces kaolin and silica from ball clay quarries around Kingsteignton for products including ceramics and tiles.

Founded in Belgium, it now operates across 30 countries and is a major employer in the Newton Abbot area.

The company is currently preparing a scheme for the Zitherixon quarry – also known as Rackerhayes – on the outskirts of the town, and intends to submit a planning application later this year.

But objectors have set up a Facebook group called ‘Stop The Quarry Expansion – Save Our Trees’ and have called on local Liberal Democrat MP Martin Wrigley to help.

In an open letter to the MP they say local residents face 50 years of harmful silica dust, noise and lorry traffic beside homes and schools.

They also point out that cutting down trees takes away natural flood barriers, with 2024 having already seen the worst local flooding in decades.

They also say the planned development conflicts with local planning policies.

Campaign co-ordinator Holland Risley said in the letter: ‘The public support for saving this forest is deep and growing.

‘Virtually every resident I have spoken to objects to the felling of this mature woodland, which serves as the last green buffer between homes and the existing industrial landscape.

‘This proposal undermines the entire planning framework intended to protect our countryside, biodiversity, and community health.’

Protesters posting on the Facebook group claim they were not told when they bought their homes on one of Kingsteignton’s former quarries that a new one was planned at Zitherixon.

One wrote: ‘Many residents would have reconsidered their decision to purchase property here had such plans been disclosed.

‘The residents of Moorland Reach, Potters Lea and the wider Kingsteignton community are not opposed to industrial development which can generate employment, but such projects must be approached with balance, transparency, and rigorous safeguards.’

Another objector added: ‘This current proposal will simply devastate an invaluable large area of broad leafed woodland with ponds.

‘As a nation we already have the most depleted woodland in Europe, and we just can’t go on destroying these vital areas.’

Because the proposal involves the extraction of minerals, it will be heard by Devon County Council rather than Teignbridge Council.

Sibelco’s mineral extraction rights date back to the 1960s, but campaigners say changes in environmental law in recent years, including a requirement that developments must improve rather than harm the environment, mean the game has changed.

‘Developers must demonstrate that any habitat loss is fully offset and enhances local nature after restoration,’ said a campaign spokesman.

‘Replanting saplings elsewhere cannot replicate ancient woodland structure or ecosystem services for decades, if ever.’

Sibelco has been invited to comment.