NEIGHBOURS have voiced fears that emissions from a glass factory may be damaging their health.

Residents in Simonstone are worried about dust and fibres coming from waste glass at the Philips TV glass factory.

Environmental health officers have received a complaint about the dust and will discuss it with LG Philips at a previously arranged meeting tomorrow.

Residents claim the problem started two days ago.

They believe the dust is coming from waste glass drained from the furnace when it was shut down last month, bringing to an end 44 years of production at the Simonstone Lane site.

Joan Moorhouse, of Bank Terrace, said: "We live just above the factory and there are piles of waste glass that they are moving which is causing a fine dust to blow through the village.

"We live so close and we are breathing this dust in. It is a health hazard."

Environmental health officers from Ribble Valley Council are due to visit on Wednesday.

Lesley Miller, an environmental health officer for the authority, said: "We can confirm that a meeting that had been arranged for sometime is going ahead with the firm.

"We have subsequently received a complaint about dust from the site and we will be raising that at the meeting."

No-one from LG Philips was available for comment today.

The decision to shut down the plant was taken after it was discovered that the factory's biggest customer, a Philip's-owned cathode ray tube plant in Aechen, Germany, was also being closed.

Draining the furnace ended production at the site and the plant is due to be closed completely by September.

The land and building have been bought and will continue to be used for industry, but it is not yet known who the buyer is.