RESIDENTS claim their homes are being shaken to the foundations by mini-earthquakes caused by blasting at a nearby open cast site.

Earth tremors are causing furniture to move and pictures have fallen off the walls at the local primary school, according to local householders.

Now residents at Westhoughton say the problem is getting worse as the three year contract to mine at the site next to Lower Leigh Road nears an end.

They believe blasting is moving from the Atherton side of the site nearer to Daisy Hill and affecting the foundations of nearby houses.

They have asked Ruth Kelly, Labour's election candidate for Bolton West, to help. Anita and John Ball of Chapelstead Road said: "The problem seems to have got worse recently. We all thought originally that there had been an earthquake as the house physically shakes around you.

"When it stops you have to go around straightening the pictures."

Alison Bali of Old Vicarage Mews said: "I actually believed someone was under the bed, it was quite unnerving. On another occasion when I was downstairs I felt the sofa move."

Residents have complained to Cllr Linda Thomas about the explosions damaging the foundations of their homes and children breathing in the dust they say regularly builds up on their windows. She said: "Every time we highlight these complaints we get told that the level of blasting is well within the legal limits. However these concerns are genuine and understandable."

Ruth Kelly promised to take the complaints up and said: "These experiences should bear testimony to the problems that can arise if you allow open cast mining near residential areas." Projects manager Tom Allchurch said blasting had been increased and moved nearer to Daisy Hill.

But he added: "From a safety point of view we are operating very cautiously."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.