A steelworks in Wales has promised to clean up its act after complaints about dust pollution from residents, who say the UK’s current hot weather is making matters worse.
People in the Port Talbot area said there had been a ‘massive’ fallout of black dust from the giant Tata Steel plant during the last seven weeks.
With temperatures soaring locals said particles were not dissipating and were coating homes, cars and gardens. Tata said it had taken action and was confident the situation would improve. Port Talbot is the steel giant’s second largest plant in
Europe, employing thousands of workers. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) revealed it had received a number of reports during the recent warm weather from residents concerned about the pollution.
A spokesman forTata Steel said,“In tackling the matter of dust emission in the long term, we have a air quality action plan which includes multiple initiatives all designed to reduce ambient dust levels and we will be working with other relevant companies to reduce what is generated from the steelworks site.”
But the spokesman said it was always more challenging in dry weather.
He said the company monitored dust levels closely and was scrutinized by NRW and the local authority.
NRW said its officers had inspected the steelworks and it was confident it had identified the part of the site which was generating the dust.
“We’ve agreed an action plan with Tata Steel Ltd and we expect the company to make improvements to reduce the amount of dust coming from the site,” said an NRW spokeswoman.
“If we don’t see satisfactory progress made at the site we will consider if further measures are necessary.”