WORCESTER chemical firm Norchem has been sold for an undisclosed sum.

Entrepreneur Paul Richardson plans to expand the Warndon toxic waste disposal firm after buying it from boss Douglas Feakins.

He hopes to invest more than £500,000 in the business, which collects ammonia, arsenic, cyanide and effluent treatment sludge.

Mr Richardson bought the controversial company - which sparked massive protests when it first moved to Worcester in the mid-1990s - six weeks after he sold his City Waste business to SITA for an eight-figure sum.

The acquisition took place through Tomdor plc, set up to act as a vehicle for other purchases in the waste management industry.

Mr Richardson, of Belbroughton, near Bromsgrove, said today that planning permission had already been given for an extension to the site's building and plant near Junction 6 of the M5 at Warndon. Five new jobs are in the pipeline.

"Norchem's a company with great potential which I recognised while I was still running City Waste," he said. "Expansion plans are already in place and I expect to see further growth."

Plans have been approved to replace 12 storage tanks with a nine metre high building.

County council principal planner Jenny Read said this was expected to reduce the amount of waste transferred from the site.

"Effectively, it would mean treating the batches of waste by chemical reduction and reducing the volume of toxic nuisance before transfer," she explained.

Miss Read said the application was approved six months ago.

WASTE giant Norchem first hit the headlines in December 1995 when residents, river watchdogs and Worcester City Council voiced concerns about its plans to move to Warndon.

Protesters collected 7,000 signatures in a desperate bid to halt the "ticking time bomb", despite reassurances from its owner, Douglas Feakins, that the plant was safe.

But he sparked outrage when he dubbed the demonstrators "rowdy riff-raff" at a stormy public meeting in February 1996.

WARCHEM (Warndon Residents Against Chemicals), backed by Peter Luff - at that time MP for Worcester - appealed directly to the then Environment Secretary John Gummer.

But despite the protest, Mr Feakins was given the nod to go ahead in 1997.

Just two years later he found himself in court after Norchem worker Norman Longbottom was killed when an underground petrol tank exploded in Kent.

In June last year, Environment Agency officers revealed the Stanier Road firm had been visited 76 times over the last two years, though this number was a statutory requirement.

Norchem was active in helping to store acid spilled on to the M5 in an accident last year and has also been used for decommissioning fuel storage tanks for B52 bombers.

The company has an annual turnover of £1.5m, and will form the first division of new owner Paul Richardson's holding company Tomdor Plc.

Mr Richardson said he planned to create a group of five waste management companies under the Tomdor Plc umbrella.

"I still have great enthusiasm for waste," he said.

"I'm actively looking for companies to acquire and expect to be able to make further announcements within the next three months."

The waste company is sited next to Worcester's biggest housing estate and is less than 100 metres from the nearest Warndon Villages home.

People living next to the site told the Evening News in June 1997 that they would never have moved to their homes if they had known about the company.