Flintshire's chances of cashing in on the boom in the lucrative and job intensive financial services sector could be hit for six if a controversial cement kiln is built in the county.

The stark warning has come from Marks & Spencer Financial Services which employs 1,500 people just over the border on Chester Business Park.

Although the company has no immediate expansion plans, it is sending out a clear message that when the time comes to increase the size of it's operation, Flintshire will be out of the reckoning if Castle Cement is given the go-ahead to build a new kiln at Padeswood.

M&S spokesman Richard Wheat said the health of company employees is of paramount importance.

The fact that fallout from Castle's proposed kiln, which can be fired with waste chemicals, old tyres and plastics, would affect Chester as well as a large swathe of Flintshire would almost certainly exclude the Welsh county from the equation as far as future development is concerned.

Mr Wheat said M&S has land available on Chester Business Park but is aware of the traffic problems associated with the area.

Sites in Flintshire could come in to play - providing Castle's application is rejected. But he is keen to stress M&S has no short term expansion plans.

His uncompromising statement follows a letter in a similar tone that the company's head of business operations, John Cowley, has sent to Flintshire planning department.

'We have a strong desire to expand within the North West, as near as practical to our existing site,' he wrote.

'This development by Castle Cement would, if allowed to proceed, inevitably impact any decisions we make about potential sites in Flinstshire.'

The Grosvenor Estate - headed by the Duke of Westminster - has also joined the protest against Castle Cement's £48million investment.

The company is worried about dangerous emissions from the cement plant contaminating farmland in Cheshire and says it may pose 'an unacceptable risk to farming operations on the estate'.

Another worry is that domestic water supplies drawn from the River Dee may be affected. The company is also concerned the 360ft kiln tower will blight the landscape.