A RESIDENTS' group have written to the Prime Minister to protest that they were not properly consulted on plans to house '90 tonnes of explosive and toxic gas' on a nearby industrial estate.

Campaigners in the Lydgate area of Burnley say the council ignored the opposition of 700 people when it gave permission for a gas-bottling unit to be built at Heasandford.

But the council says it followed the normal planning procedure, including consultation.

And MP Peter Pike, who investigated the case after receiving a petition, also says the planning application was dealt with properly.

Residents' committee spokesman Brent Dunleavey said the council was wrong to rule that residents lived too far away from the site to be consulted.

He said: "Openness in local government does not apply to Burnley council, who seem convinced that allowing a toxic, explosive hazard to be built within 270 metres of a major housing estate is good for residents."

But planning officer David Ellis said the nearest house was more than 300 metres away, and the views of the parish council and the local ward councillors had been taken into account.

The health and safety executive concluded that "the risks to the surrounding popu- lation... are so small that there are no significant reasons, on safety grounds, for refusing hazardous substances consent."

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