MEMBERS of the public are being invited to comment on Able UK's latest application for its ghost ship scrap yard.

The company is seeking hazardous substances consent from Hartlepool Borough Council to store a range of materials, including asbestos, PCBs, oxygen and acetylene, at its Graythorp yard in the town.

It requires permission to temporarily store by-products from constructing, repairing, refurbishing and decommissioning ships and other craft, and from manufacturing wind turbines at the site before disposal elsewhere.

A planning application covering those uses and two others putting forward options for dry dock gates at the yard, have previously been submitted to the council and are being considered.

Organisations such as the Environment Agency, the Health and Safety Executive and English Nature will be asked for their views, but anyone is entitled to comment.

Comments must be sent in writing by October 31 to principal planning officer Roy Merrett at Hartlepool Borough Council's department of regeneration and planning, Development Control Division, Bryan Hanson House, Hanson Square, Lynn Street, Hartlepool TS24 7BT.

A copy of the application is available at Bryan Hanson House. For more details, call (01429) 523004.

All requests are expected to be considered at the same time - although a date has yet to be fixed.