A FILM enthusiast is hoping to put together a film about a Chirk wood-panel manufacturer.

Film-maker Tom Griffiths says he believes that Kronospan, and the ongoing debate about the factory, is a topic which needs more discussion.

Tom, of Glyn Ceiriog, said he hopes to increase the chance of better dialogue between the community of Chirk and Kronospan representatives by producing the film

“I’ve been debating on doing a documentary for a couple of years now,” he said.

“I never really knew whether it would be the right thing to do, but having family in Chirk made me notice how much of a big talking point the factory is.

“The recent fire at the site was the final straw that convinced me to go ahead and start looking at making one.

“Obviously, people can only do so much by talking about it, so I hope a documentary will be a way of bringing out more discussion about the matter.”

Tom made it clear he wants to explore both the positive and negative sides to the topic, and as a result hopefully shed more light on both sets of views.

He added: “There are quite clearly two sides to it – the residents are upset being one side, and then the positive economic impact it has. There’s also the side to it which people feel affects the health of residents and the environment.

“The idea of the documentary would be to look at the factory objectively and look at the situation from both sides of the argument.

“I won’t be going into it with a pre-determined agenda, but at the same time I won’t be hesitant to document what I find out when researching.

“It has always been a big topic of debate and it has a lot of attention already.

“I would hope the documentary would raise awareness about the factory beyond Chirk and get people from outside the area talking about it too.

“It would provide a better platform for dialogue between the people of Chirk and the factory.”

After posting about his film idea on social media, Tom hopes the he will be able to engage with the community about the film and encourage participation from people in the area.

Tom said: “It’s at the very start of the process at the moment, I posted online about it initially to gauge what kind of reaction it would get and to see if people would respond to it.

“Already since the post on social media I’ve had a number of people contact me with their views.

“I have also reached out to Kronospan to discuss with them their side of the matter, but I am yet to receive a response.

“I’m hoping to start filming by the end of this year in preparation for a release in 2020.

“The initial idea would be to provide a screening of the documentary in Chirk for a home audience, but we’ll have to see how the film turns out.

“If it ended up being well received, I would consider putting the documentary online for free viewing.

“More than anything, I hope it’s something which will do my home area proud and provides something for the community.”

Kronospan were contacted but declined to comment.