THE charity director trying to relocate a devout Christian sect's UK headquarters to Essex says contamination of the land could thwart their move.
Jehovah's Witnesses have agreed to buy Temple Farm, a car repair and breakers' yard at the junction of Stock Road and Ship Road, near West Hanningfield, pending planning permission.
It would become a 50-acre home to 800 followers with a printing room producing up to 184,000 Christian magazines an hour.
Yet ahead of a series of public consultations this month, International Bible Students Association director Paul Gillies, 59, says the move hinges on an ecological report on the site.
He said: "The results of the contamination study are a major factor. We don't expect a clean site but we do expect, and are prepared for, a reasonable amount of contamination, what with the battery acid that would have spilled out of car batteries, and we expect to spend some money on decontaminating the site."
In January, Michael Bowers of ABS Skips was fined £6,000 for operating three illegal waste sites at Temple Farm, which Wharf Land Investments tried to convert into a business park in 2008.
He was also ordered to pay the Environment Agency £2,000 for dumping metals and car batteries since September 2012. The previous owner, the late Jim Small, was also ordered to pay £45,000 by magistrates for running an illegal waste site there in 2007.
"If we found something totally alarming then we would have to think again, but so far that's not been the case and we're not worried by the levels we've seen so far," said Mr Gillies.
The IBSA, a charity used by Witnesses to distribute their literature, will answer questions at three public consultations this month alongside architects, traffic engineers and consultants.
"Nothing is set in stone yet," added Mr Gillies, who hopes to submit a planning application by late summer. "We would appreciate their input and observations. With a site that size, local people might want to know how it's going to impact on their community."
West Hanningfield parish councillor Thelma Alexandra, who has visited the IBSA's current home in Mill Hill, north London, said: "The place at Mill Hill is absolutely out of this world. It is clean, quiet, everything is done nicely; it really shocked me, even the factory part where they print all the books, you could have eaten your food off the floor. The way the place is run is absolutely lovely, so it's got to be better than what we have now."
But Mill Hill is too expensive to run, which is why they are seeking to move to Chelmsford.
Stock Parish Council vice-chairman John Millernas said: "The only thing our parish council is concerned about is an increase in traffic coming through Stock, it can get very congested.
"But anything has to be better than what is there at the moment without a doubt. It was well contaminated and with the amount of engines leaking oil into the mud, it was absolute murder."
