An environmental group has raised safety concerns over plans to build a liquid propane gas storage facility on the outskirts of Hamilton.

The Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) fears the development may cause an “elevated safety risk” as well as increase the conflicts between adjacent resident and industrial areas.

The Bermuda Gas and Utility Company, which is owned by the Ascendant Group, applied last month to the department of planning to build the storage facility on Belco land between Cemetery Road and St John’s Road in Pembroke.

A spokeswoman for the firm said the facility would be built to international standards and everything would done to ensure safety on site.

“It has been designed to international standards and the next phase after planning permission will look at all the engineering that will need to be done to ensure safety on site.

“Obviously work will not begin until permission is granted.

“This development has been proposed so that Bermuda Gas has the opportunity to purchase at a more competitive pricing that may be available in ISO container form.”

The new facility is planned for 29 Serpentine Road and would be able to store up to 24 LPG containers on site.

Stuart Hayward, chairman of BEST, said: “The physical development of concrete docking pads is quite benign. However, the application really is for an intensification of the use of this site.

“The site is being transformed from a relatively passive storage site to an active industrial zone with an elevated safety risk.

“There will be an increase in the risk of fire and an increase in traffic flow experienced by Cemetery and St John’s Roads occupants. BEST has an ongoing concern about the increasing conflicts between adjacent residential and industrial areas.”

He added: “In addition to the residential occupants, safety concerns need to be extended to include those who attend, do business and/or work at Gorham’s Ltd, the Berkeley Institute, the Bermuda School of Music and other entities occupying the old BI buildings, transient users of adjacent roads and the nearby bus stops, and those who dwell within a safety radius of the storage pods.

“We anticipate that safety concerns will be addressed through conditions attached to any approval leading to emergency plans crafted and managed by the appropriate emergency agencies.

“BEST would like to commend Matt Thompson, the Ascendant group’s environmental engineer and his team for seeking out our concerns, answering our questions and adopting a proactive safety-first stance toward the site’s permanent and transient neighbours.”