RESIDENTS of a village on the outskirts of York say they do not want a 100-tons-a-day stone crushing plant on the edge of their village.

More than 160 villagers in Tockwith have objected to the proposed stone-crushing plant on Marston Moor Airfield.

They say it could endanger the health of villagers, would be too noisy and could cause traffic problems.

Parish councillor Bill Bowyer said: "The main concern is the possibility of contaminated dust.

"They will be crushing stone from old buildings. The site is in line with the village and the wind comes from the site into the village."

"There is also the possibility of the problems with noise if they are crushing a 100 tons of stone a day. And the road that the traffic from the site will have to come down already has a lot of traffic on."

R J Howard Engineering wants to build the stone crushing plant to the south of Tockwith business park near to Rudgate Lane.

Around 100 people turned up to a parish council meeting and were urged to make sure their objections were heard by North Yorkshire County Council.

Ruby and Ron Morris from Prince Rupert Drive, have lived in the village for more than 20 years.

Mrs Morris said: "I suffer from asthma and the thought of the stone crushing plants frightens me to death.

"There are a lot of children in the village and some suffer from asthma like me - it is very worrying."

Parish Council chairman Mark Kennet said: "There is not enough information provided with this application and there is serious concern from people in the village."

"The parish council is encouraging people to write and express there concerns."

Objections should be sent to North Yorkshire County Council, County Hall, Northallerton, DL7 8AH.

Agents for R J Howard Engineering, Godfrey Design Associates, declined to make a comment.

Updated: 09:15 Tuesday, June 25, 2002