Mossmorran chemical plant shut for a month

Flaring at Mossmorran was continuing on Tuesday

The Mossmoran chemical plant in Fife, which has been at the centre of numerous flaring incidents, has been shut down for a month.

ExxonMobil Chemical Ltd notified the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) of the move on Thursday.

The announcement came after multi-agency partners held a meeting to discuss the situation.

Sepa has continued its deployment of air quality and noise monitoring in the area for public reassurance.

Earlier this week the petrochemical firm apologised for the latest unplanned flaring at the plant.

The firm said two of the site's three boilers had failed, and flaring was necessary while the plant was shut down to evaluate what repair work was required.

Sepa says it has been monitoring air quality near the plant

In recent years local residents have complained of repeated unscheduled flaring incidents leading to noise, disturbed sleep, light pollution and vibration to houses.

The latest flaring prompted local politicians and campaigners to question the "effectiveness and credibility" of Sepa, claiming there have been four new incidents since a "final warning" was issued in April last year.

Sepa has promised to investigate the latest incident and issue an update on its ongoing regulatory investigation into an incident earlier this year.