CASTLE Cement has withdrawn its appeal against an environment watchdog's orders to clean up plume grounding.

The Clitheroe company's decision has been made following detailed discussions with the Environment Agency who, Castle say, have confirmed that an end-of-year deadline for completing works to tackle plume grounding was not a condition of the orders which were imposed earlier this year.

It is now hoped that plume grounding improvements will be in place within a year of the granting of planning permission for the work to go ahead.

Castle's environment manager, Mr Ian Walpole, said: "We have found ourselves in disagreement over only one issue - levels of certain metals in Cemfuel - which we can better explain by trials and demonstration of test results than by legal argument." The company had appealed to the Secretary of State for the Environment against five parts of a variation notice issued by the Environment Agency - all of these have now been withdrawn.

But the company has yet to decide if it will apply for a variation relating to the calorific value of Cemfuel and the sulphur content of the coal mix used at the Ribblesdale plant.

Castle also plans further tests to demonstrate that levels of chromium, nickel and lead in the hazardous waste fuel it uses have no adverse environmental effect.

And when these trials are completed, the company may then apply for a variation to adjust the metal content of Cemfuel.

Environment watchdogs have received confirmation of Castle Cement's withdrawal of the appeal.

They are awaiting detailed procedures from the company to ensure that plume grounding is successfully tackled.

The company has agreed to install a gas scrubbing system at the cement plant at a cost of £5m.

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