A fresh dispute has sprung up at Grangemouth in Scotland, and once again Ineos, with its massive presence in the region between Glasgow and Edinburgh, is at the center.

This time, it is not the trade unions that are up in arms. Local citizens are resisting the company’s request to have authorities permanently close part of the main road that connects Grangemouth with Bo’ness and cuts through the sprawling petrochemical complex.

A 150-meter stretch of the A904 highway was closed in March 2015 to facilitate work on a pipe bridge in preparation for Ineos’ new ethane storage tank to be put in place. Part of a £450 million investment at the site, the tank will store shale gas-derived feedstock shipped in from the US.

The local governing body, Falkirk Council, last year passed a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO) to allow materials to be delivered to the construction site without interference. When this expired at the end of March this year, the road was reopened to traffic. Now Ineos has asked the council to close it again, citing safety concerns.

This is the only major site within Ineos group that has a public highway running through it, said John McNally, CEO of Ineos 0&P UK. He added: “It is clearly not best practice and opens up long term concerns on continuing to secure the safety of the public traversing a site which is about to begin importing and storing huge quantities of US shale gas and will run at full capacity for the first time in almost a decade.”

What’s more, McNally said, keeping the road open is unnecessary, because there is a “perfectly good” alternative route that runs around the edge of the site.

Having a public thoroughfare running through a massive petrochemicals plant results in obvious and unnecessary added safety concerns, the executive said, while suggesting that these may not be manageable. “Our employees and contractors have all been fully trained to respond to any issues that might arise on the site,” he said, “but the general public have not.”

Having the road open McNally said, is “clearly an added burden.” Ineos will have “to protect the safety of the public, who are untrained in our processes and have unfettered access to the middle of a chemical plant, particularly one that is undergoing significant expansion.”

Ineos has said in the past it wants to open the complex to other chemical-related companies that will share services, including energy.

Resentments against the road closure request have surfaced in conventional and social media, with many questioning a company’s right to close a public road. Some also said they wondered why Ineos was allowed to build the ethane tank so close to the road, if it was dangerous, or permitted to build at all. “This is no more than a multinational trying to flex its power over the locals,” another remarked.

The council’s decision is still out.