GREEN campaigners have slammed a Padiham company after half a tonne of fibres spilled into a river when a warehouse collapsed yesterday.

But the company today said it was working with the Environment Agency to clear up the problem the agency said was not causing "any immediate threat to the environment".

Bales of material plunged into Green Brook, a tributary of the River Calder, when a warehouse at the rear of Equestrian Surfaces, Station Road, buckled.

A black film covered the brook and blocked the flow of water following the collapse of the warehouse yesterday lunchtime.

The Environment Agency were on the scene to help the company clean up the fibres, which have been described as a mixture of rubber and nylon fibres.

Gerald Thompson, who lives in nearby Waterside Mews, said residents have raised concerns with the company before and wanted them to move.

He said: "It's just not acceptable we think the people of Padiham deserve better. Every time they receive complaints, they say they are going to relocate but they never do."

The company, who specialise in the development and manufacture of surfaces for horse riding, have hit the headlines before. Last year, marketing manager, Phillip Bond, publicly apologised for the amount of dust and fibrous emissions.

Tomorrow, the company will appear before Reedley magistrates charged with releasing high dust emissions, relating to the incident last year.

Jane Burnett, 52, who lives with partner Ian Kippax, 58, said residents in Waterside Mews have tried negotiating with Equestrian, whose premises back onto Green Brook but had no success.

Mr Kippax said: "There are workers there with jobs and mortgages. We don't want them to lose their jobs but we want them to move somewhere suitable."

Brian Jackson, of Friends of the Earth, said: "Anybody storing things next to the river have a responsibility to ensure the storage and fencing is adequate. In this case it appears that it wasn't."

Bosses at Equestrian Surfaces said yesterday's collapse would not have a damaging effect on wildlife.

Mr Bond said: "It is an extremely light synthetic fibre that will not pollute the water. It is not hazardous.

"The material was stored loose in a steel-framed warehouse and it appears the fibres have put pressure on timber cladding, which in turn has collapsed. I think the timber had reached the end of its days.

"We have excavators pulling the material out of the water and we expect to have it clear in the next 12 to 24 hours.

"It is only a small incident and we have co-operated with the Environment Agency who carried out a site inspection."

The firm, which also has bases in Berkshire and Wiltshire, creates a range of surfaces manufactured from a cocktail of ingredients.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: "It is not considered to be highly polluting. It is more of a visual problem. It is not causing any immediate threat to the environment.

"At this stage it is too early to say if any prosecution will follow this incident. We have to access the situation first.

"We send our Emergency Workforce Team as soon as we heard of the incident and they have been working with the owners to clean the fibres up."