PRESSURE will be piled on conservation charities to buy coastal strip land on Portland and save it from quarrying.

Portlanders have pledged to lobby politicians, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the National Trust to step in and preserve Southwell land under threat from stone excavation.

Proposed quarrying work could come within 50 metres of Southwell residents' homes and would leave a gaping hole close to the Portland Bill lighthouse.

More than 100 residents packed out a Portland Community Partnership meeting at The Heights hotel last night to have their say and sign a petition opposing the plans.

Despite a £9m price tag being put on the affected land, Weymouth and Portland Borough Councillor and Southwell resident Margaret Leicester said a last-ditch bid to save it was still possible.

She said: "The National Trust would be quite happy to get involved if they felt the people of Portland would support it."

Dorset County Council planning chief Andrew Price told residents the local authority alone is powerless to stop the quarrying.

Under the plans, 140,000 cubic metres of stone will be extracted from land south and east of Southwell village along to Portland Bird Observatory over the next 30 to 40 years.

Planning permission to carry out the work was given by the now-defunct Portland Urban District Council in 1951.

The county council is still waiting to receive proposals for the development from quarrying company Stone Firms Ltd. No representatives from the company attended the meeting.

Mr Price said: "We cannot stop the development, but the most we can do is negotiate with the company to get the best possible deal for the community.

"We're working hard to get the best deal out of an appalling situation."

Principal planning officer Jerry Smith said the council's main concerns about the quarrying work are noise, vibration and traffic levels and the ecological impact it will have.

A Habitats Regulations review is still being carried out and the results are expected in the summer, he said.

Mr Smith said: "In this instance there's more control over what the company cannot do because of the wildlife living in Southwell, not because of the settlement there."

The council officers also told residents the local authority would take up their case for compensation from central government if the work went ahead.