Residents' fears over location of lithium battery storage facility

RESIDENTS have raised safety concerns about the proximity of a lithium battery farm to other industrial units.

- By AUSTEN SHAKESPEARE

It comes after a fire on the wider industrial estate in Ryton, Gateshead last year.

Firefighters were called to a blaze at a depot in the Addison Industrial Estate last year after wooden pallets caught fire.

The location of the lithium battery facility, on Newburn Bridge Road, has also been brought into question from locals due to its closeness to a gas storage facility.

Ryton resident Collin Broderick, 66, said: “My gripe with the council is we know we are not going to stop it but at the end of the day we should have been notified.

“If anything happens down there, I don’t think they've looked into it. We need somebody to go down and check the area and have a look. They have built it there next to the pallets and the gas bottles.