PRODUCTION at Castle Cement's two controversial wet kilns in the Ribble Valley looks set to cease within three years following the announcement of a new £48million dry kiln at the company's Padeswood site in Wales.

The National Assembly for Wales has given permission for the company to go ahead with building the new kiln, which will make the Welsh works amongst the most efficient and environmentally friendly in the world.

Construction should take around two years, and at its peak, more than 500 people will be working on the project.

The decision means that the company will now be able to mothball kilns 5 and 6 at its Ribblesdale works in Clitheroe, with work to continue on the dry kiln 7.

A spokesperson for Castle Cement said: "The investment in the new kiln at Padeswood will bring significant improvements to the company's overall environmental performance.

"It allows us to mothball our two less energy-efficient wet process kilns at Ribblesdale works, whilst maintaining our superior dry process kiln 7 with its state-of-the-art gas scrubber."

The new kiln will cut back over 75 per cent on the emission of acid rain gases, will use energy more efficiently and also make clean use of materials, which would otherwise have to be placed in landfill sites.

At the Ribblesdale works, the company is hoping for the green light to use scrap tyres as an alternative fuel to the controversial chemical waste Cemfuel for a trial period. It is hoped that further consultations will now be held and trials will be closely monitored later this year.

The plans would involve using chipped tyres to provide up to 25 per cent of the energy requirements for its dry-process kiln 7.

And with the company's works at Ketton in Rutland already achieving a 20 per cent reduction in releases of oxides and nitrogen when burning tyres, the move brings with it the prospect of a further improvement in environmental performance at Ribblesdale.

Resident Lynda England, a member of the Bellman Quarry Action Group, which is made up of local residents, councillors and Castle Cement employees to discuss issues concerning the company and the local environment, said: "The information I have had so far is that we would be better off burning tyres than Cemfuel. But burning tyres itself is a bit of an unknown quantity."