SAFETY standards will not be compromised following the take over of a chemical firm situated in the heart of a Bromsgrove village, residents were assured this week.

It follows news that the PolymerLatex plant at Stoke Prior has been sold to the giant Soros Private Equity Partners, a global private equity investor.

Together with its associates, Soros currently manages more than $4 billion of United States equity capital.

Details of the sale of the company, which employs 70 staff at Bromsgrove, by German partners Bayer and Degussa for around £156m, were finalised on Friday.

It prompted Labour district councillor Sean Shannon (Charford) to question if safety will still be number one priority with the new owners.

Cllr Shannon is also a member of Stoke Prior parish council and lives in Shaw Lane not far from the plant.

He said: "We have been used to a very high standard of safety being maintained by the German owned company. "Dangerous operations go on inside there and I am very concerned about the implications for health and safety by the change of ownership to a venture capitalist company outside Europe and which may cut corners in order to make it more profitable."

But PolymerLatex managing director Graham Reed said residents should not be worried.

Staff have been kept fully informed of the sell off, he said, and he expected there to be no major changes in the day to day running of the plant.

"There will be no compromise on safety," he said. We will maintain our operation in the same way as we have in the past. Safety will continue to be treated as a priority with us complying with the current regulations."

PolymerLatex regularly reports to the parish council and Stoke community through a liaison committee.

The company, which was founded in 1996, employs 730 staff at five European sites, and is market leader in the production of latex for among others the carpet and paper industries.