A ROW has erupted over plans for a chemical treatment at a company located at a Baildon business park.

Produmax, a precision engineering firm, has applied to Bradford Council for the chemical treatment of metal parts, including storage of chemicals, at a unit at Sapper Jordan Rossi Park, Otley Road.

But other businesses at the park, which Produmax moved to in 2015, have concerns over the use of chemicals at the site and claim the proposal is not in keeping with the original aim of having high-tech firms at the park.

Other firms claim Produmax would use the anodising process, which increases resistance to corrosion and wear, at the new site, which uses a number of acids and creates corrosion of the building and carries potential health risks.

But Produmax deny these claims, saying it has only applied for the possibility of using anodising and will instead use techniques including 3D metal printing at the new site.

It adds damage to the building could only be caused by “extreme over exposure to chromic acid fumes "over a course of years and years”. The extraction system will be designed and installed to be approved by the environmental agencies.

Gerald Misbert, managing director of aluminium firm GSM, which is next door to the proposed site, said: “We have a lot of concerns over this planning application.

“It contravenes what we are supposed to do on the site. This is a high-tech park for light industrial and high-tech business.

“We are a stockholder of aluminium profiles and our concern is with the corrosive nature of the anodising process, which the buyers wish to commence on the site.

“In anodising plants, including our own at a different site, this creates corrosion of the building and structure and any stock in the vicinity.

“The anodisation process causes corrosive fumes which would have a direct, detrimental affect, damaging to our property and goods and potentially the wider environment.”

Jeremy Ridyard, Produmax managing director, said: “The applications is more of a cover all bases. It will not be a full-scale anodising plant.

“The Environment Agency have fully investigated it. There are no possibility of any spills.

“It is a heavily regulated industry. There is only the possibility of anodising.”

The 13-acre site in Otley Road, formerly known as the Baildon Business Park, features businesses including yarn manufacturer Laxtons, Produmax, Anetic Aid, West Yorkshire Glazing, and John Ayrey Die Casts.