PROTESTORS against the plan to develop Low Mill into a wool scouring plant face an anxious three-week wait to see if Environment Minister John Prescott will step into the row.

Bradford planners are happy for the proposal to go ahead and this week members of the transportation, planning and design committee meeting at Bradford City Hall voted for it to be submitted to the Department of the Environment.

The plan, by textile company Straume (UK) Ltd, provoked angry opposition from members of the Low Mill Residents' Association.

But Addingham Parish Council, the village Civic Society and the MP for the area, Ann Cryer, all decided not to oppose the plan after pollution watchdog, the Environment Agency, produced a report stating that the wool processing would not damage the river or the surrounding area.

At a planning meeting a week ago in Keighley, the head of Straume Ltd, Sven Straume, said that the objectors to his plan believed in a 'pipe dream' that the buildings, occupying the site of one of the world's oldest worsted spinning mills, should be completely demolished.

He said that the plan to convert the industrial site into a wool processing and storage plant would lead to jobs being created in the area immediately and bring positive knock-on effects for other local businesses.

Objectors fear that the type of operation to be carried out at the plant carries with it the risk of unbearable noise, pollution, and an unacceptable increase in the level of traffic on the narrow roads of the sleepy hamlet.

After studying the plan Department of the Environment officials have 21 days to decide if it should be called in for their consideration.

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