A RARE habitat home to bluebells, badgers and birds is at risk after Naylor's Drainage carried out 'unauthorised' works to ancient woodland.
It began felling trees and excavating an area at Whinmoor Wood in Cawthorne but a senior planning officer says the work was 'unauthorised' because the company failed to meet conditions attached to the planning permission before starting work.
Naylor's Drainage, which makes clay pipes, was granted permission in November 2006 to extract blue shale and Cumberworth thin fire clay at Bankswood quarry and extend into Whinmoor to remove 7,000 tonnes of clay from the site each year.
Naturalist Colin Graham, of Cooper Lane, Hoylandswaine has no confidence the habitat will be restored and says the company is posing a serious threat to the area as a badger sett will have to be relocated and bluebells protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 will be removed.
He told the Chronicle a mistle thrush nesting site and its young have also been illegally destroyed.
Keith Pell, senior planning officer for Barnsley council, visited the site last week and is writing to Naylor's to express his 'severe dissatisfaction' that work has begun without the formal discharge of conditions.
He said: "As there are a number of 'prior to commencement' planning conditions which have not been discharged and others not complied with, the development is unauthorised and I will request an urgent meeting to resolve the matter."
Mr Pell says he will also be informing Natural England of the situation as there may have been breaches of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
Mike Milner, Naylor's Drainage quarry consultant, said the only works carried out is the restoration of three acres of woodland of the original quarry and some scrub clearance in Whinmoor to allow excavation of a trial pit.
He added:"Conditions attached to the planning permission refer to dust and mud suppression systems, signage, site restoration and hydrogeological risk assessments being submitted prior to commencement of development.
"These are currently being updated from the ones appended to the 1996 permission and will be in place before the start of quarrying operations."
