Ineos has accused Falkirk Council of defying ‘common sense’ after the local government reopened a main road, which runs through the middle of the firm’s Grangemouth petrochemical site.
The Bo’ness road was shut for nearly a year as the base was redeveloped, which included the addition Europe’s biggest Ethane tank. The site, which did not operate for nearly a decade, will soon import “large quantities of US shale gas” and be running at full capacity, according to the firm.
John McNally, Grangemouth chief executive, said: “This is the only major site within Ineos Group with a public highway running through it. It is clearly not best practice, and opens up long term concerns on continuing to secure the safety of the public traversing the site. The site is about to begin importing and storing huge quantities of US shale gas and will be run at full capacity for the first time in almost a decade.
“We have had a number of discussions with Falkirk Council about the Bo’ness road and we have advised them against re-opening it. Having a public thoroughfare running through a massive petrochemicals plant results in obvious and unnecessary added safety concerns which we have to manage. Our employees and contractors have all been fully trained to respond to any of the issues that might arise on the site but the general public have not.”
Ineos has asked Falkirk Council to use “a perfectly good alternate route that runs around the periphery of the site” instead.
McNally added: “Whilst we understand the local authority’s need to keep public roads open, we feel very strongly that in this case the public interest would be better served were the road to remain closed. Safety is always our top priority and it is clearly an added burden to continue to protect the safety of the public who are untrained in our processes and have unfettered access to the middle of a chemical plant, particularly one that is undergoing significant expansion and is about to move to full capacity for the first time in almost a decade.”