Could a quarry on the Lizard Peninsula be looking at a new future as a diving centre for tourists?

This was the speculation at the last meeting of St Keverne Parish Council over Dean Quarry, which has not been operated as a quarry for many years, despite mineral rights remaining in place until 2035.

The future of the site is now uncertain, following the collapse of plans last June.

Its parent company, Shire Oak Quarries Ltd, had previously stated that it hoped to supply rock to the UK's emerging tidal power lagoon industry, as well as other potential markets, from Dean Quarry.

However, the UK Government's decision last summer to throw out plans for such a development at Swansea Bay - led by Mark Shorrock, who owns Shire Oak - makes the current plans for the quarry unclear.

Julian Rand, Cornwall councillor for the St Keverne area, told the parish council that he had been asked by Adrian Lee of Shire Oak to meet "to discuss some propositions."

Mr Rand said: "He said they were trying to consider the future of Dean Quarry. He wanted to know what would be good for the local community and any other proposals."

However, he said he did not feel it was his place to meet one-on-one with Mr Lee and wrote to him asking to involve the parish council and members of the community also. He was now waiting to hear back from Mr Lee.

Parish councillor Michael Anselmi raised the possibility that a diving centre could be one direction the quarry owners were looking at.

Mr Anselmi, who owns nearby Porthkerris Dive Centre, said: "Mr Lee has approached quite a lot of my competition looking for them to support him in having a dive centre down there, which I'm very much in favour of because competition is healthy.

"But when we do have this meeting I think the council should remember Dean Quarry is a brownfield site and to our community a brownfield site is very important to us - much more than an area of outstanding natural beauty and a nature reserve; we have got plenty of them.

"Maybe we should be looking for something that looks after our young kids; maybe we give them some training. Maybe a fish farm, or something like that."

He added that people should also recognise there was a "very healthy quarry" still operating at Porthoustock, which employed a lot of people, and said: "You've got to question whether two quarries would do the same job."

Council chairman Roger Richards said it was important not to pre-empt what would be said at the meeting.