Telford fire: Air safety monitored around recycling plant as council pledges £200,000 towards demolition
Monitoring to establish whether the air near the site of a large recycling plant blaze in Telford is safe to breathe is due to start today, as the borough council pledges £200,000 towards the facility's demolition.
Firefighters were called to Greenway Polymers just after midday on Monday after waste material at the premises near the M54 went up in flames and smoke.
The leader of Telford & Wrekin Council confirmed the Environment Agency had been drafted in today to monitor the air quality after concerned residents nearby questioned whether it was safe to go outside.
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Councillor Shaun Davies also said the authority will put £200,000 towards the demolition of the facility he said "was not suitable" for the location besides the county's only motorway.
"There have been questions around air quality and as a council we've been pushing our partners to start to monitor the air quality so we can get that analysis through," he said.
"That pushing has paid off and that work will start at last today."
Councillor Davies they were hoping for an "early indication" by the end of the day.
"The air quality hasn't been monitored in the way we want it to be monitored which is to be analysed so we can ensure we make informed decisions," he said.
"There's been monitoring taking place in the water courses around the site which gives some indication, but we're hoping to get an early indication of the results back today."
Public engagement sessions on the fire are due to be led online by the council and Shropshire Fire & Rescue Service next week.
The council also said it will write to all residents affected.
Councillor Davies added: "We've also allocated £200,000 to the cost of bringing that building down too.
"There's clearly going to be an investigation into the cause of the fire so we'll have to wait for that to conclude."
Councillor Davies added that the council's planning department denied the expansion of the site in 2007, but this was overturned by planning inspectors.
