by Howard Williamson
RARE orchids and butterflies are at risk from a plan to fill in a quarry and re-model a golf course.
Precious wildlife inhabits the northern end of Woodhall Quarry at Calverley, Leeds, which was last used 22 years ago.
Some 15 butterfly species have been counted in the 65ft deep section and the early marsh orchid, which was thought to be extinct, is flourishing in pools.
Conservationists flagged up fears over the survival of all the species if the quarry was filled in with soil and rubble alongside an upgrading of the golf course.
Fencing
Clive Saul, senior minerals officer for Leeds City Council, said it was proposed to provide a fenced-off translocation area for wildlife in the southern half of the quarry.
"Currently, the orchids depend upon the hollows around the quarry that have become seasonal or permanent ponds," he told Leeds West plans panel.
"Once a suitable translocation area has been created, it will be necessary to maintain a clean supply of water to it and this could be accomplished in several ways."
The Common Spotted orchid would be moved to a suitable area in the recently re-modelled nine-hole golf course.
Mr Saul acknowledged that there would be a risk in transplanting the orchids but they currently faced destruction anyway from trespassers and motor-cycle scramblers.
The biodiversity of the site would increase as it matured, he insisted.
Susan Stead, secretary of Bradford Urban Wildlife Group, pleaded unsuccessfully for the northern half of the quarry to be spared infilling, saying it would destroy the wildlife.
"There is no guarantee that species will 'take' if they are transplanted," she said. "Some were recently transplanted at Bingley and did not appear the following season.
"The destruction of the wildlife by motor-cycle scramblers has been exaggerated," she declared. "They could be kept off the site with proper management."
The panel, however, approved plans for quarry infilling and improvement of the golf course. For safety reasons it placed restrictions on the number of lorries bringing infill material to the site.