BUSINESSES could be put off moving in to the former British Sugar site in Kidderminster after plans to put in a mobile rubble crusher were given the thumbs up, it has been claimed. the former British Sugar factory site.

Green lighting the crusher will hit a bid to get firms into the Stourport Road site to give the district economy a shot in the arm, said Howard Martin, leader of Wyre Forest District Council.

He said: "There are major plans afoot to develop that for light industrial use and I believe this will have an adverse effect on the chance of letting that land. It is a bad decision for Wyre Forest."

The district council had already advised Worcestershire County Council's planning committee to throw out the application over fears about noise and dust and three residents wrote to the county council opposing the plan.

Nathan Desmond, district councillor for Oldington and Foley Park, in which the site lies, said of the application: "That is a big area and the only saving grace is it has a three-year term. The challenge for the district council is to make it into land that will be to the long-term benefit of the local economy.

"A crusher does not fit into that long-term plan."

Other worries among residents were the volume of traffic coming onto the site - set at a maximum ten loads a day - as well as fears over noise and dust.

Yet the environmental health officer at the district council said the application - from Kidderminster firm Lawrence's Aggregates - would not see dust impact on nearby properties and would need to be monitored under a strict permit.

The three-year application was voted through on Tuesday and will allow the firm to use the site from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and from 8am to 2pm on Saturday.

Lawrence's Aggregates is part of Lawrence's Skip Hire, based at Hoobrook Industrial Estate, in Kidderminster.