BATTLE lines are being drawn up in Oakhanger as residents prepare to fight an application for a waste management licence to infill the clay pits at the Selborne Brickworks.

Villagers claim they are under threat from heavy lorries carrying inert waste to the pits.

Chairman of the Oakhanger Preservation Society Peter Duckworth said the number of lorries would result in villagers becoming prisoners in their own homes if the application was granted.

A waste management licence application has been submitted to the Environment Agency by TJ Landfill Ltd.

The company has applied to infill the old brickwork pits with 105,000 tonnes of inert waste per annum over the three-year span of the licence.

But a spokesman from the Environment Agency said if a licence is granted on June 20, only 400 tonnes of waste could be moved in any one day.

Permission to infill the pits was granted in 1980 by Hampshire County Council and the county council has not objected to the waste management licence application.

Mr Duckworth said villagers are opposed to the application and are concerned about the lack of objection from the county council.

"Oakhanger villagers and local residents adjacent to Selborne Brickworks are very deeply and gravely concerned with this application," he said.

Villagers have asked the preservation society to take up the case and fight the proposals.

Mr Duckworth said the roads in Oakhanger were not suitable for 32 tonne lorries.

He claimed an extra 40 lorry movements a day through the village would be created, adding to the problems in Oakhanger.

"The Oakhanger village road is one of the busiest in north east Hampshire and is totally inadequate for the present traffic volume."

Peter Duckworth said the road narrowed to only 14 foot wide in places. The effect of more traffic would be "catastrophic" for village life.

"Villagers are fearful of even walking from house to house and the effect on pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders is very considerable, with villagers being prisoners in their own homes."

"The effect of this very large extra number of lorry movements on the local environment and quality of country life will be very considerable.

"Damage to roads, roadsides, boundaries, properties and vibration to houses immediately adjacent to the road will be caused."

Businesses in the village could also be affected, claimed Mr Duckworth.

"Two local businesses in Latchford Lane are fearful that this potential lorry invasion will jeopardise their livelihoods and cause local unemployment."

Owner of Springfields Nurser Barry Plummer believed lorries would create tailbacks and he feared he could go out of business if customers got fed up with being stuck behind heavy lorries.

Peter Duckworth said he was counting on the Environment Agency to protect the village.

"We feel the Environment Agency's purpose is to protest and enhance the environment and that Hampshire County Council should show far more concern and protection for its local rural residents.

"We will continue to fight for the rejection of this very terrorising application."

p The managing director of the TJ group of companies Terry Higgins was on holiday and unavailable for comment.