QUARRYING could start on the coastal strip near Portland Bill this summer.

Stone Firms Limited may begin the work on sections of land on the coast, near the Bill and Southwell.

The plan comes despite protests on the island against the proposal.

There have also been suggestions that the company could be paid compensation if it doesn't quarry the area.

Stone Firms estate manager Tim Clotworthy said: "It is still our intention to quarry the coastal strip this summer unless our consent is forcibly modified to prevent us.

"If that happens then legislation says we are entitled to compensation. What that might be I haven't a clue.

"That would be up to a Lands Tribunal to decide and that could take up to two years."

Stone Firms aims to use original mineral consents awarded in 1951 to extend its existing operation to quarry a strip of land.

Former Dorset County Council planning chief Andrew Price, who has now retired, said the consent 57 years ago was granted by the old Ministry of Housing at a time of post-war reconstruction and a need for jobs.

Changes to the status of the area since then have included designations of ancient monuments, a Special Area of Conservation and world heritage coast status.

Mr Price felt mining - which is used elsewhere on the island by Albion Stone - was a much less intrusive and damaging way of using the stone beds than Stone Firms' proposal for open quarrying.

But he added that without a company change of heart, "we are in no position to prevent quarrying without revoking consent and paying compensation from council tax".

Don Gobbett, who is the current council planning chief, said that the issue of compensation could arise if work "impacts on sites of national nature conservation significance and there is no way round it".

Borough councillor Margaret Leicester, who lives in Southwell, said: "I don't see how we can stop this quarrying other than by offering Stone Firms compensation. The cold hard fact is that Stone Firms have a valid mineral consent which can only be taken away if they are compensated for their loss."