Residents living in Treviscoe, near St Austell, have hit out at expansion plans by china clay giant Imerys, which could see 240 lorries a year driving through the village.
The mounting opposition comes following the firm's proposal to start operations manufacturing concrete blocks as well as exporting sand and gravel from land north of its 29-acre site, the former Kernick Mica Dam, Little Treviscoe.
Imerys' plans will generate 12 million concrete blocks a year and 130,000 tonnes per year of sand and gravel.
It will create 26 jobs, said Imerys, and they are currently in talks with potential partners who would own and operate the aggregates and block-making plant.
But some residents who have learned of the proposal are outraged by the prospect of the additional lorries that will drive through the village, to export the manufactured materials.
They say it is the final straw for the community, which is already blighted by huge HGVs and articulated lorries rumbling back and forth along the road.
Families have to jump into hedges to avoid the vehicles and the village has been known to grind to a halt when buses and lorries meet in the road, which is too narrow for them to pass side by side. Phil Ford, 66, has lived in the village with husband Darren on Barton Lane for 14 years.
She said: "This is the final straw. It's an insult to the village.
"In the first year it will be 240 extra lorry movements a year but in the second year they want to double the output so presumably the lorries will be double that."
A grade II listed bridge in the village is also taking the strain from the weight of the lorries and the railway bridge has also been damaged on several occasions, they said.
Added to this, residents claim part of the traffic problems is where lorries – which have not stuck to the road that has been installed to allow traffic to and from the St Dennis incinerator construction site – are using the village's main thoroughfare.
In an email, Chris Fry, another Treviscoe resident, said with dustbin lorries going to and from the incinerator when it opens, existing lorries and now this application, traffic was set to treble.
"Where has our quality of life gone," he said. "What next? Maybe some wind farms, maybe a nuclear reactor or maybe the HS2 rail link would like to pass through Treviscoe."
Trish May, 67, lives on the main road, and added: "In the worst-case scenario, we are going to be trapped in the village and the road is going to be a very dangerous place."
She added it was not just the noise, light and accumulative air pollution, which will also include incinerator dust.
Imerys have said the plans to improve the railway with additional sidings and 75 per cent of the blocks and sand and gravel will be transported by rail to reduce the traffic on the roads. A new vehicle access at the junction close to the crossroad junction into the Imerys site is also proposed.
John Sibley, St Stephen-in-Brannel parish councillor representing Treviscoe, Nanpean and Foxhole, said: "I support Imerys in what they are doing to create jobs – but the road infrastructure must be sorted out.
"Even if it ends up being an additional 20-30 lorries a day that's 20-30 lorries too many."
The application will be discussed at the next planning meeting of St Stephen-in-Brannel Parish Council on December 11 at 7.30pm.
