Residents hand Tetrosyl petition to local councillors

Residents hand the petition to Councillor Aasim Rashid and Councillor Billy Sheerin

Residents who strongly object to Tetrosyl’s application to store and distribute hazardous chemicals in the refurbished warehouse on Royle Barn Road in Castleton handed a petition to local ward councillors, Aasim Rashid and Billy Sheerin, with over 340 signatures of Castleton residents plus an additional fifty who live in neighbouring areas.

The organisers say the petition is to "inform Rochdale Borough Council that they are seriously opposed to any hazardous substances in any state being stored close to residential properties".

Local resident Tommy Brogan commented that Tetrosyl’s latest statement “that before the warehouse becomes operational they will have in place rigorous health and safety systems and procedures to reduce the likelihood of an incident to a minimum level” is in his opinion “not good enough” he feels that minimum means there is "a possibility of an incident".

Ann Simpson, another angry local resident has serious concerns regarding the poor air quality of the area around Royle Barn Road with the recent significant increase in diesel engined HGVs using the road even before Tetrosyl begins operating.

Andrew Wastling quotes a Greenpeace survey that confirms that there are already illegal levels of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) on one of the major arterial approach roads to the Tetrosyl site.

Councillor Billy Sheerin said: “The application for a permit to store hazardous substances will be done by delegated powers. Council planning officers will pass on the application to the National Health and Safety Inspectorate for them to conduct the procedures and then forward a formal recommendation to Rochdale Council to either approve or reject the application. Their recommendation is then endorsed by the council, which is normal procedure."

Councillor Sheerin says that he fully understands the "serious concerns" of local residents due to the "unfortunate history that the village has with major industrial fires, including one which resulted in a fatality".

He added: “We want a cast iron assurance from the Health and Safety Executive that every conceivable possibility of a fire or hazardous spillage on this site is 100% removed - the people of Castleton deserve this."

Councillor Rashid says he is "totally unhappy with the procedure" and wants the application to be "considered by the elected members [councillors] on the Planning and Licensing Committee"; he says he will attempt to do this by formally ‘calling in’ the application.

He said: “The way that this major supplier to the motor industry has conducted the move into Castleton without from the outset giving full reassurances that all safety matters would be addressed, and the somewhat clandestine method of going through the planning process was unprofessional and unbecoming of a company of its stature.”

Tetrosyl did not respond to an invitation to comment.