AN application to extract 1.65 million tonnes of sand and gravel from a site in Bidford has been submitted to Warwickshire County Council.

The application has been put in by CEMEX-RMC (UK) Ltd - formerly Ready Mix Concrete - to extract the minerals from the site at Broom Court Farm near Marriage Hill, Bidford.

The company wants to remove the material from the 49-acre site at a rate of 300,000 tonnes a year, taking five and a half years to complete extraction.

Extracted materials would be transported by a conveyor belt system to RMC's Marsh Farm Quarry at Salford Priors for processing.

The conveyor belt would travel the 1.5km through tunnels under the Salford Road and the A46.

The company is proposing that the site would be restored to a series of nature conservation lakes and some agricultural land after extraction is completed.

Matthew Williams, county council planning officer, said the earliest a decision could be taken would be May 24 though he thought that was highly unlikely.

"I will go out later this week and undertake notification of the nearest neighbours," said Mr Williams.

A public meeting is being held on Saturday, April 16 from 9am to 2pm at the Crawford Memorial Hall in Bidford, for villagers to see the plans and question RMC representatives.

Bidford county councillor Peter Barnes, who is chairman of WCC's planning and regulation committee, said: "We are very concerned."