The excavation of property near Anchorage View Lane in Ferry Reach has stopped for the time being, residents said last week, but a new wire mesh fence has been put up despite the lack of new Planning approval.

Plans have been submitted to the Development Applications Board by Tiqvah Holdings to build ten warehouses, units and access roads in principle at the site where a "significant" and as yet largely unexplored cave was found.

"These plans were rushed through," resident spokesperson Gerald Davis said last week. "The plan had no details, no site plan and no cross sections of the buildings. There were no electrical or plumbing drawings either.

"It was like a little architect's impression drawing," he said.

He said the excavating company had stopped work last Wednesday after the story about the construction work going on without proper planning permission broke in The Royal Gazette.

The excavating machines at first used the Anchorage View Lane site, have been relocated across the road to the Prison Farm.

Developers were caught using a two-year-old permit for concrete silos, when they were supposed to be building warehouses.

However, Mr. Davis said no stop permit had been issued at Planning and the old building permit was still posted on the fence near the western boundary of the site.

"They have constructed a fence four feet from our boundaries," he said.

"A fence? Why not a wall or shrubbery, a four-foot wire fence is totally unacceptable," he said.

"There is a four-foot chicken wire fence on the western boundary and an eight-inch fence of A142 wire mesh on the eastern boundary," he said.

The cave was still open and able to be accessed from Mr. Davis' property as only the short chicken wire separated the cleared site from his yard.

However, access from the road has been made more difficult.

And residents did not know whether any representatives from Planning or the Environment Ministry had been able to visit the cave since the site was fenced in.

The plans show that eight warehouses will be built on the western boundary and two on the eastern.

"They will be three storeys high on the western side and two on the eastern. That will block off everybody's view," Mr. Davis said.

"We are going to take a letter around to the neighbours (this) morning. We are asking for a setback of ten to 15 feet, and to put a boundary wall up rather than a stupid fence. We also ask that the warehouses on the western side can be reduced to two storeys tall."