A CHEMICAL factory is trying to soothe the fears of local people after two incidents in a month.

Belvedere councillor Richard Lucas, says people are "scared to death" following chemical leaks at Croda Resins and one several weeks earlier at nearby NuFarm UK, both in Belvedere.

Croda Resins has written to local people and invited them and councillors into its works in Crabtree Manorway South.

It is also looking at ways of calming people's worries.

On August 10, firefighters in chemical protection suits were called to the factory following an explosion which ruptured two tanks of overheated styrene.

The automatic alarm in the empty factory sounded for nearly an hour until firefighters were given the all-clear to enter the works.

One man says his aviary of canaries was nearly wiped out following the leak of two kilos of dichlorophenol into the air from an overheating tank at Nufarm on July 1.

A chemist living in Belvedere said if the chemical had burned instead of just overheating it would have created and released dioxins, which are extremely toxic.

Coun Lucas says bosses at Croda Resins have told him it is now considering staffing its factory out-of-hours and moving the alarm control panel to make it more accessible.

Residents were not told about either incident at the time because it was said that neither was an injury risk to local people.

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