THE final piece of the jigsaw turning Milford Haven into the world's largest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) site fell into place yesterday.

Despite considerable local concern, and a claim from one county council committee member that to make a decision on current information would be 'criminally negligent', planners approved an application to store hazardous substances at the Waterston Petroplus plant.

The committee side-stepped the contentious issue of risks associated with tankers in the Haven, claiming 'shipping risk assessment is a separate process' carried out by the Milford Haven Port Authority.

"Planning responsibility only goes as far as the low water mark," officers told committee members.

Further concern was also raised when the committee's legal adviser informed members that the Joint Unitary Development Plan for the county, which states new developments must have 'no risk to public health or safety', had little relevance to the application.

A spokesman for objectors' group Safe Haven said: "Obviously we are disappointed that a sensible call for deferment was not taken up. We were also interested to hear from council officers that the port authority has done a risk assessment because it has never confirmed that."

However, Port Authority general manager Ted Sangster said: "We have been carrying out a risk assessment with our pilots and marine management team. We have also brought in outside consultants and specialists, and have been working in conjunction with the technical project teams of each LNG project".

A quarter of committee members, led by Councillor Moira Lewis, called for further deferment of the plans.

"All aspects of safety should be taken into consideration before deciding on this application," she said, "it would be criminally negligent to decide today."

Cllr Lewis, supported by 100 concerned residents, added that current doubts over the future of Haverfordwest Fire Station further exacerbated safety fears.

A 500-strong petition calling for all safety information to be made public was rubbished by Cllr Brian Hall because a handful of the signatories came from outside the county.

The application was approved, subject to the revoking of the site's Liquefied Petroleum Gas storage licence, and the installation of exact specification pipelines and emergency shut-off valves.

LNG developers should pay a 'green royalty' to Pembrokeshire, says Plaid Cymru.

"We believe that the county should see hard-cash benefits from an 'LNG royalty' that could be used to develop renewable energy projects and invest in local communities," said a spokesman.

"This happens at oil installations and wind farms in Scotland already - why not in Wales too? This is potentially a multi-billion dollar development and our local authority should not be afraid to ask for the maximum benefit for our people and our environment."