RESIDENTS concerned about the safety of an Oswaldtwistle chemical plant following a gas leak are being urged to attend a meeting next week.

A report about the recent leak at Nipa Laboratories, when a cloud of steam and acid from the Nook Lane plant drifted over the Stanhill area in May, is to be presented to Hyndburn Council's environmental services committee on Wednesday at 7.15pm.

Oswaldtwistle Conservative councillors are encouraging local residents to attend the committee meeting even though they will not be allowed to speak.

A public meeting has already been arranged for Monday June 22, but the councillors feel residents may get a better insight if they listen to debate on the Nipa issue in the Eagle Street council offices, Accrington, at on Wednesday. Coun Sandra Hayes said: "I think that the problems with Nipa are not going to go away overnight and that the more information residents can glean from any source will be in their own interests.

"We will not be satisfied until we get a cast iron assurance that incidents such as the one on May 6 will never be allowed to happen again."

The Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency are still carrying out a joint investigation into the incident.

But Wednesday night's meeting will have an interim report from the Environment Agency setting out the events and the action taken so far.

The Agency report says a gas cloud of steam and acid gases from the plant drifted towards the Little Moor End and Stanhill areas of the town, and police toured the area advising residents to stay indoors and close windows. Evacuation of these areas was considered but soon proved unnecessary as the fire brigade gained control of the situation, it adds.

The Agency says the incident occurred as a vessel was being filled with thionyl chloride from a bulk storage tank. It appears the vessel was overfilled and the contents flowed through its vent system into the acid gas scrubber to which the vessel was connected.

As well as investigating the cause of the incident, the Agency and HSE are looking at any other aspects of the company's operations which could have been contributory factors.

The interim report says further legal action may follow if there is sufficient evidence to show that the company has breached any mandatory requirements.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.