A CHEMICAL firm which closed down a manufacturing operation following a gas leak has been granted permission to re-open part of its factory.

Bosses at William Blythe's Ltd, Church, say they are monitoring the processes carefully as they bring production of stannic chloride back to normal levels.

The Environment Agency slapped a ban on stannic chloride production at the firm's Bridge Street works after an acid spillage on August 10, when a small amount of hydrochloric acid vapour was released.

The firm had already closed the acid production area voluntarily when the ban was imposed.

Last week the firm's operations director expressed concern that business could suffer and jobs might be lost if normal production was not resumed soon.

The firm has now started producing stannic chloride again, but has been running processes at less than half the usual rate while checks are made for potential problems.

Managing director John Heaton said: "We are operating under very heavily supervised conditions and are taking every possible precaution to ensure that there is nothing unusual occurring. We are taking a lot more measurements than usual while the process is running. So far we have not found anything unusual.

"We are taking things steadily because we do not want this sort of incident to happen again."

Mr Heaton said he expected production to return to its usual rate within a week.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said the firm had taken steps to prevent further leaks and had been granted permission to re-open the production area.

The agency, which has power to prosecute polluters, is still investigating the leak.

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