RESIDENTS are demanding answers after a huge fire at a chemical plant.
More than 150 firefighters battled the massive blaze at Grosvenor Chemicals in Linthwaite last May.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will publish a report into the incident later this month.
And now people living near the Manchester Road site have formed the group Colne Valley Residents (CVR).
Spokesman Gordon Ratcliffe said: “We’re concerned about the risk posed by Grosvenor Chemicals and we want to protect residents of the Colne Valley from any future incidents at the site.
“We need to be satisfied that the site is safe because there has been a history of problems.”
CVR is made up of more than 20 Linthwaite residents who live within a mile of Grosvenor Chemicals.
The group has spoken to Colne Valley MP Jason McCartney and has met Kirklees Council environmental health officials.
However, CVR is yet to meet Grosvenor Chemicals.
Mr Ratcliffe said: “We have tried to have meetings with the company and sought to have a visit but the company has not agreed to that.
“It’s critically important for residents to visit the site because we want to be reassured that there aren’t going to be further incidents.”
Grosvenor Chemicals site manager George Randall said yesterday that the company would talk to CVR in the next few weeks.
He said: “The HSE is due to report its findings and make recommendations this month.
“I’m prepared to meet residents once the report is published, I don’t think it would be prudent to have a meeting before we find out what the HSE has to say.”
Mr Randall added that May’s fire had not been caused by chemicals at the site.
“The problem wasn’t with any chemical processes,” he said. “It was a generator that caused the problem.”
He added that the company planned to get all its power from mains supply, with a generator only to be used in emergencies.
“It will take the generator out of the equation,” he said.
Mr Randall does not believe the factory is dangerous.
“I would describe safety at the site as very good. I don’t think residents have anything to fear,” he said.
“We are regularly inspected by the HSE and there are currently no prohibition or improvement notices served on the company.”
Linthwaite was rocked by a series of explosions after the fire started in the early hours of May 24 last year.
The blaze gutted the engineers’ workshop, boiler-house, laboratory and a portable building in the north-west corner of the site next to Huddersfield Narrow Canal.
