Defence firm submits proposal for weapons factory at Mossmorran site

A defence firm has submitted proposals to convert the former Mossmorran chemical plant into a factory producing weapons components.

The Fife Ethylene Plant near Cowdenbeath ceased production in February, after its owner ExxonMobil said it was no longer financially viable.

More than 400 staff were affected by the closure.

The energy giant said it anticipates it will take until 2028 to fully decommission the site and and make it safe for dismantling.

Last month defence contractor TBG International Limited submitted a pre-application screening request to Fife Council for the conversion of the site into an “energetics manufacturing facility”.

Energetic materials are the explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics that are key components in weapons.

A defence firm wants to take over the site (Rachel Keenan/PA)

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The proposals would see the construction of “process buildings, earth-covered storage magazines with associated earthworks, ancillary buildings, access, parking, landscaping, drainage and associated infrastructure”.

They would also see existing offices and warehouses at the site altered and re-used.

A letter from Fife Council to the Hampshire-based firm indicates the proposed development will require an environmental impact assessment to be carried out.

The letter states: “This is because the proposal constitutes Schedule 1 development under paragraph 6(f) of Schedule 1 to the EIA Regulations, namely an integrated chemical installation for the manufacture, on an industrial scale, of substances using chemical conversion processes, in which several units are juxtaposed and functionally linked, and which is intended for the production of explosives.”