FEARS are growing over plans to transport lorry loads of potentially-explosive fertiliser to a store in a North Yorkshire village.Residents said they were worried that 5,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, classified as a hazardous chemical, could soon be making its way along a winding country lane to Wheldrake.

A Selby-based storage and distribution company, the Potter Group, has applied to use a 28,000 square foot warehouse on the outskirts of the village, near York, to store ammonium nitrate pellets, which are used as an agricultural fertiliser.

It would mean six lorry loads a day each carrying 22 tons arriving at the village over a two-month period.

The pellets would be stored at Wheldrake and then taken to farmers who ordered them.

The plan has sparked unease among residents and businesses whose premises are near the warehouse.

Rowan Bell, managing director of Thorne Engineers Ltd, said: "It's an explosive substance and they want to store it right next to our workshop, where we do welding and grinding."

Alf Vass, managing director of Pine & Cane Direct Ltd, said: "It is not on. We are frightened of hazardous goods being next to our trading estate and next to the village, where I live.

"There is also the worry over all these 22-ton lorries coming and going."

City of York Council councillor Denis Hobson, whose ward is Wheldrake, said: "I do not like the idea. I do not think it is the sort of material that should be stored in the village and I want to see as much effort and pressure put on to stop this happening."

The general manager of the Potter Group, Peter Kempson, said the pellets were relatively inert but had the potential to explode if they were compressed in a confined space and set fire to.

He said: "We are conscious of our responsibility to the local area and community. We have a wide experience in handling this material." The company had been storing the pellets at a Ripon warehouse for 14 years without incident, he said.

The City of York Council is consulting the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) before deciding whether to allow the Potter Group to go ahead with its proposal.

Keith King, principal inspector for the HSE, said its Major Hazardous Assessment Unit was investigating.

David Dick, chairman of Wheldrake Parish Council, said: "Until the matter comes before a committee of the City of York Council, there is no need for concern."

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