Heavy-handed development at Hamilton Parish's Wonderland Cave is destroying the natural environment and could spark a collapse, a neighbour has claimed.

Former United Bermuda Party Senator Noela Haycock said she was afraid cumbersome machinery could cause the cave to fall in and added that she suspected excessive tree and rock clearing was being done to clear the way for a road.

And she said developers Wilkinson Trust had created a dangerous precedent by working on the site before permission was eventually given.

But Wilkinson Trust planning consultant David Summers denied all the complaints.

He pointed out that the Trust now had all the necessary permission for development and said it was being done in a sensitive way which would enhance the area.

But Mrs. Haycock said: "It is doubtful, if Mr. Summers had applied from the beginning, the Planning Department would have allowed him to do what he has done.

"He had denuded the land, got caught and then got retroactive permission.

"The Planning Department doesn't have the teeth to stop people when they do that. There was no court case to say he illegally destroyed woodland reserve.

He wasn't punished.

"What concerns me is the precedent which has been set. I have four-and-a-half acres of woodland reserve but I can do anything I want with it. If I destroy it, Planning will let me get away with it.

"He is back there doing more. They simply told him he has to landscape it.

The Planning Department had no control over this project from its inception.

"Yesterday he cut down more trees but it's a zoned area. I can't see why that's necessary.

"I question the need for using heavy equipment on top of the fragile cave structure. It's a delicate thing.

"They are digging no more than 50 to 100 feet away from a sink hole where a cave collapsed. It's dangerous for people to walk round. I wish to hell they would fall in with it.

"They are digging up rock and taking away trees. There's supposed to be an eight-foot pathway but it's now 15 feet in some places. It's not a pathway anymore, it's open parkland.

"I suspect eventually it will be a roadway to an eventual car park. That's my suspicion.'' But Mr. Summers said the Trust was only using a small digger to remove rubble which had been there since 1912 when the Haycock family ran the site.

"We are removing it to expose the original top soil. The formations in the cave are delicate but the cave itself is structurally sound,'' he said.

"Vehicles pass over it every day.

"In fact, Mrs. Haycock is one of the people who pass over it so it's not about to fall in. Indeed when we remove the rubble it will be less of a burden.'' Mr. Summers said the site's landscape management plan was being prepared by Government Conservation Officer David Wingate to "create a true woodland reserve and not a sanctuary for the pernicious Mexican peppers there now''.

He added: "We will remove those so we can plant endemic plants. The path will be eight feet wide.

"We are not intending to create a car park. We have a huge car park at the Crystal Caves. The Wonderland Cave will be operated from the Crystal Caves.

"It was the Haycock family who put a ticket office and toilets right there in the Wonderland Cave. We haven't even demolished it. We are trying to assess its merits as a conversation piece.'' The caves should be open to the public by January said Mr. Summers.

He added: "Four generations of Bermudians haven't been into these caves. They are different from the Crystal Caves and they are truly a wonderland.'' Flattened: The access path to the Wonderland Cave site.