WORK at the Fife Ethylene Plant is close to getting things back to normal operations after the breakdown which has caused the days of flaring at Mossmorran which has caused concern amongst the communities of Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly.

Problems with the steam creation operation at the plant saw the flaring start on Sunday and continue for some days.

Noise and the amount of smoke billowing from the flare stack on Sunday have been of local concern but the amount of flaring going on has caused people to be worried about when it will end.

However, SEPA confirmed that their monitoring of air quality shows no adverse affects from the activities: "Air quality monitoring, in line with ongoing air quality assessment activity, continues to show no cause for concern and SEPA will continue its operational response over the duration of the incident".

The operators of the plant, Exxon/Mobil have confirmed that work is making progress on getting things back to normal and Catherine Cubitt, the company's Community Affairs Co-ordinator said this morning: "Working day and night, our team has now re-started two out of three major pieces of process equipment.

"We continue working towards a safe start-up of remaining equipment and return to normal operations.

"SEPA have also confirmed that there is no cause for concern in relation to air quality from the flaring https://t.co/HTfRbx37Yu

"Everyone at the plant is committed to minimising both flaring and timescales for the return to normal operation."

Meanwhile the Mossmorran Action Group are anxious about the recent developments and are geared to holding a public meeting at Lochgelly Town Hall on May 17 to examine the impact of the latest unscheduled flaring incident at FEP.