IN my opinion the article (September 26) about the future of the Sealocrete site in Ainsworth was slanted.

It is the case that currently Sealocrete are planning to move their entire production from Rochdale to Ainsworth, thereby doubling the output in our village. The vast majority of Ainsworth residents will be horrified at the prospect.

Since Sealocrete arrived in the village we have had the blight of chemical emissions from their storage and production filling our previously clean air with an odious stench. At times, in hot weather, villagers have been forced to abandon their gardens, go inside and shut all their windows to escape from the smell. For all the efforts of Sealocrete to control these emissions, nothing has worked satisfactorily and we live in a polluted village.

Before Sealocrete took over the site, a crowded village meeting voted overwhelmingly in favour of good quality housing instead of a factory. A recent survey by the village design team, asking people to name the best and the worst aspects of our village, showed that 90 per cent of respondents named Sealocrete as the worst thing in the village. We can now see a way through this. Sealocrete have offered to move out and make way for housing. Is the village in favour of this?

Well, at the moment a vote is being carried out in which every resident has a voice. Voting terminated on Tuesday and we expect a good response. Already hundreds of votes have been returned. We hope the planning committee will listen to the voices of the people.

To say that the village is not viable without a factory is ridiculous. Only two local people work at Sealocrete. And was the village not viable when the site was empty for a decade?

Like the report of people in Holland Street, Radcliffe, protesting against the siting of gas cylinders near their houses, we are in fear for our health and safety. One fire last year only just stopped short of igniting the whole place. We escaped then. We don't want a second scare

Finally, while Councillor Briggs has every right to air his views as a councillor, it should be pointed out that he is not a resident of Ainsworth, but lives on a perfectly safe and odour-free estate two miles away in Bradley Fold.

IAN HOPKINS, chairman,

Ainsworth Community Association.