A FIRM has been given permission to extend their operations in Cardenden despite opposition from local residents.

RWE npower renewables can now work from 7am to 5pm on Saturdays at their storage and chipping plant at the old Bowhill Colliery.

A protest was held at the site last weekend to highlight concerns about dust, noise, pollution and the impact of the site on the community.

Fife Council approved the request at the west planning committee and a report stated: "The additional operational hours would not have any significant impact on the road network, road safety or residential amenity in terms of impact from dust and noise with the additional controls within the condition and the supplementary associated condition."

New and reclaimed wood is converted into chips at the Bowhill base to fuel RWE’s combined heat and power plant in Markinch.

The fuel processing depot was built by site owners The Purvis Group, based in Lochgelly.

RWE's applications to extend the hours of operation on a Saturday were met with objections and the issue was raised at the recent Cardenden Community Council meeting.

Secretary David Taylor said the plans to extend operations on a Saturday were to "cover emergency situations, with up to an additional 20 lorry movements expected".

He added: "The main problem they anticipate is emergencies occurring more frequently, due to breakdowns at their biomass plant.

"The Bowhill site was never intended for this purpose and causes additional dust with lorries having to be unloaded and reloaded, as well as with the additional material being stockpiled, to a height of 20 feet, on site.

"The last breakdown was only a few weeks ago and caused extreme hardship to local residents by way of additional dust."

He had added: "Some may consider we are overreacting, but why should our community, and others, have to suffer this situation for the next 25 years, because of the inadequacies of RWE's Markinch biomass plant?"

Mr Taylor said they had also asked the firm to consider moving to another site.

A spokesman for RWE Renewables said: “RWE takes its operational impact on the local community very seriously and we are disappointed to hear of the latest complaints.

"We have already spent £150,000 on dust suppression technologies and we will continue to work with the Bowhill Community Liaison Group to address any local issues associated with the processing site.

"This includes at our regular meetings, with one already scheduled for next week."

The liaison meeting takes place in Bowhill Community Centre on Monday, starting at 6.30pm.