THE next-door neighbour of a major Selby district employer has spoken out about his concerns over the company's transportation methods.

Pensioner Michael Hammond, lives in Fenton Lane, in Sherburn-in-Elmet, next to British Gypsum.

The plant, which manufactures plaster boards from the gypsum by-product of nearby Drax Power Station, recently signed an agreement with rail haulage firm EWS Energy to transport the gypsum dust by train.

Deliveries will come via the Gascoigne Wood railway yard, the UK Coal-owned railhead, which served the former Selby mining complex.

The deal will mean lorries no longer have to make the 16-mile trip between Drax and Sherburn. British Gypsum hailed this as a step forward, taking hundreds of lorries off the district's roads.

But 69-year-old Mr Hammond claims this is misleading, as the gypsum loads will still have to be transported the almost four miles by road from Gascoigne Wood to the British Gypsum plant.

"The people of Sherburn think they've got these vehicles off the road, but they haven't," he said.

He argues British Gypsum should cut out road haulage entirely by setting up rail facilities at its works.

He said: "Because of the cost of building a railhead, they won't do it. They prefer to use country roads that are maintained by the property taxpayer.

"I'm not particularly complaining about the vehicles, I'm complaining that the highways department saying Fenton Lane is a country lane, but British Gypsum are using it for their deliveries.

"I'm having to subsidise this as a property taxpayer and when the answer is a railway line 250 yards across the fields, the district and parish councils should be pressurising them to build it."

But works manager Darren Wilson hit back at Mr Hammond, saying British Gypsum had significantly improved its operations in the past deacde, minimising its effects on the local community.

"We've spent about £100,000 on Fenton Lane," he said. "As part of the upgrade a year ago, we paid for the recovery and restoration of the road from our factory to the roundabout, which leads on to a trunk road.

"We pay for road sweepers to go out and the plant is immaculate compared to other plants. No gypsum is taken out on to the road, it's all contained in the factory."