A ROW has erupted over a recycling plant in Abercarn, which has begun processing hundreds of tonnes of wood.

Cross Keys Pallets moved the waste to the former quarry after its own site in Wattsville became unusable due to a fire that burnt for around nine months.

But, when the company went bust in March, the owners of the land, DC Griffiths and Sons, were left with mountains of wood waste.

It began processing this in April and has applied to Caerphilly council for retrospective planning permission.

Around 100 people crammed into Llanfach Village Hall on Thursday evening to voice their concerns about the operation on Cemetery Road.

Chairing the meeting, Mark Hillier of Coed Molfa talked of "terrible dust" coating cars and windows, noise pollution and the risk of wood there catching fire.

Abercarn councillor Ken James urged locals to write complaints to the council before the issue is discussed at a planning meeting next month.

He said: "Wood there is from Cross Keys Pallets, where a fire burnt for months and months. If it burns here it will cause havoc as it is right in the middle of Abercarn."

Alan Parfitt, 64, of Twyn Road, said: "There's noise, dust and an intrusion on our quality of life."

Co-director of DC Griffiths and Sons Robert Griffiths said he hadn't been invited to the meeting, but vowed to ensure there would be no detrimental impact on residents' lives , descrribing the amount of wood being processed as "negligible".

Mr Griffiths said while the company initially just wanted to get rid of the wood waste stockpiled, it is now receiving an extra six lorry-loads a day.

He said if the operation gains retrospective planning permission, it would employ five people long-term, adding: "There may have been a problem in April when we were new to this and didn't know what we were doing. But, we very quickly addressed that."

He added that when wood from Cross Keys Pallets has been processed by the end of the year, the site will process around 40 tonnes of wood a day, with a small operation segregated and screened off.