A TYRE recycling plant has been given the go ahead by Blaenau Gwent councillors providing a chimney stack is placed on the opposite side to a major food manufacture.

Councillors at a Blaenau Gwent council planning committee meeting yesterday (thu) decided to approve the application for Rubber Manufacturing, a company specialising in recycling old tyres into rubber, to open a factory at Rassau Industrial Estate. The factory will be the second of its kind in South Wales.

The application was to change the use of the 60,000 sq ft site, which used to be a furniture making business but closed in 2014.

Two food manufacturing companies opposed the plans including Zorba Foods who employ 380 people and have been based in Rassau since 1996.

They said the microbial contamination of dust emissions from the tyres could jeopardise their business if it were to contaminate the food products.

Chris Nash, managing director of Zorba Foods, said they make 2.8 million pots a week which include hummus, dips and soup.

He said: "All I can really go on to say is we operate will a lot of the big main supermarkets nationally. We have to abide by the high standard.

"If we don't apply that standard we can't make the product."

He said the proposed stack which emits rubber dust was in too close proximity to their factory.

He said: "If that gets into our product that is us done."

Brian Kelly, representing Rubber Manufacturing, said the environmental impact of the stack on the food factory is non-existent. He told councillors that a draft environmental permit from Natural Resources Wales has been issued but he rejected this to add a practical requirement placed on the stack.

He said: "This will enable us to attest going forward that there is no impact."

He said he proposed to relocate the stack from the north side to the south side which would be further away from Zorba Foods.

A number of councillors voiced their concern with jeopardising 380 jobs at the Zorba Foods factory including cllr John Williams, member for Rassau, who said: "That is my main concern here to voice that because of the job situation in Blaenau Gwent."

According to the report, the plant would play a “valuable role” in environmental sustainability and would provide an industry Blaenau Gwent does not already have.

Councillors agreed for the rubber manufacturing company to have talks with both food manufacturers to agree to change the location of the chimney stack.

A 14 day consultation will then have to take place and providing the planning department don't have any issues, the application will be approved.