MANAGERS at Thamesteel in Sheerness are waiting to hear whether their efforts to minimise pollution have been good enough to gain an Environment Agency permit.

In November last year, bosses had to supply an Air Quality Impact Assessment to the government department as part of their application for a Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) permit.

Lucy Harding, EA communications officer, said the assessment revealed: “Operations on site would potentially result in elevated concentrations of some pollutants (sulphur dioxide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in the local area.”

She said the application also contained insufficient information as to how Thamesteel managers proposed to minimise odour and noise caused by operations.

Managers were told they had to provide options for improvements to minimise the impact of odour, emissions to air and noise, and an implementation programme.

Miss Harding said: “The Environment Agency is reviewing the proposals, the application and comments received from our consultees and the public.

“Based on the outcome of this review the Environment Agency will decide whether or not to issue the site with a PPC permit to operate.

“Should a permit be issued it will contain conditions requiring Thamesteel to carry out improvements to the operations on site so as to minimise pollution.”

If granted, each of the conditions will have associated deadlines, she said.

Miss Harding confirmed that since the mill re-started production in January after a break, the EA received a number of complaints, primarily regarding the smell.

The mill was not shut because of an EA order, but because of the relative price of scrap metal compared to the mill’s own product.

Keith Plowman, one of Thamesteel’s managers, said: “We have committed to do various things and we are hopeful that the commitments we have made will result in a licence being granted to continue operating and making steel on site.

“We have allowed the extra expenditure to resolve any problems and we are now waiting on the Environment Agency and that’s all we can do.”