Sign of the White Horse and a Brussels cliffhanger

At daybreak tomorrow a dozen Gurkha soldiers bearing limestone slabs will put the final touches on a giant white horse cut into a hill overlooking the English Channel.

To the people of Cheriton, near the port town of Folkestone, Kent, whose forebears have helped repel invading fleets through the centuries, the figure is a splendid affirmation of civic pride, immediately visible to passengers emerging from the Channel Tunnel.

But to environmental campaigners, it is damaging a rare landscape. Two weeks ago they persuaded the European Commission to halt the project, claiming that it breached the Commission's habitat directive. The land is part of a Special Area of Conservation and, by digging up 200 square yards of turf and replacing them with limestone, rare spider orchids and butterflies are being put at risk, conservationists say.

As a result of a complaint by Friends of the Earth, the Government was asked by Brussels to explain the approval given in 2001 by Stephen Byers, who was then Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. If it fails to do so and the site cannot be restored, it may be liable for fines from the European Court of Justice.

But the combined forces of green politics and Brussels bureaucracy has served only to inflame local opinion, represented by the farmer Richard Beaugie, on whose 700 acres the horse lies.

Standing dangerously close to the horse's hind legs, Mr Beaugie jabbed a finger in the direction of Calais and said: "You know what they do with horses on the Continent? They eat them. Well, they are not eating my horse. This is an English horse and we are not going to let the common market interfere. We are made of sterner stuff.''

Michael Howard, the MP for Folkestone and Hythe, argued for the horse at the planning stage and public enquiry in April last year. The Tory former home secretary described the environmental argument as "fanciful and insensitive". "I have supported this all the way and it has been approved at every stage right up to the Secretary of State," he said. "I hope the Government will stand firm and explain their decision.''

Chalk-cut hill figures were totems for Iron Age communities. The oldest examples in Britain are the White Horse in Uffington, Oxfordshire, the Long Man of Wilmington, East Sussex, and the Cerne Abbas giant in Dorset. The latest version was chosen by the local artist Charlie Newington because of a nearby Iron Age fort in an area known three millennia ago as Horse Hill.

The horse is at the centre of a rebranding exercise by the Shepway District Council. The logo is on council stationery and will soon be on all council vehicles. Ray Lewis, a council spokesman, said: "They are banging the drum about polluting the environment, but it's small fry. Their intervention is perplexing.''

Craig Bennett of Friends of the Earth described the chalk horse as "more like a Trojan horse'' and said that if the project proceeded it would make it easier for the Government to rubber-stamp bigger schemes such as roads, ports and airports. "It is very important that people understand that this chips away at wildlife legislation," he said.