THE exhibition of updated plans for the former Parkside colliery site has been labelled 'a smoke and mirrors PR stunt' by an angry residents organisation.

Parkside Action Group (PAG) remains unconvinced by Astral Development's proposals for the Strategic Rail Freight Interchange in Newton.

Brendan Page, Parkside Action Group chairman, said: "The Astral update and recent public exhibitions were an impressive smoke and mirrors PR stunt that totally failed to convince the vast majority of residents.

"Parkside Action Group members gave out hundreds of our leaflets to horrified and angry residents as they left the Astral public exhibitions.

"Many felt that Astral representatives did not convincingly answer most of their questions, especially about traffic and rail."

And the organisation says it is unhappy that Astral plan to take 'even more' green belt land - rising from 200 hectares in their 2005 blueprints, to 272 in the updated scheme.

Mr Page said: "We already have over 500 acres of green belt land with existing public rights of way for all to enjoy.

"All Astral have done is throw us the scraps of green space that are left over after their freight terminal has been built."

But last week, Simon Spencer, director of Astral Developments, said that no publicly accessible land will be lost and that the community would only gain from the plans if they are approved.

He said: "At the moment this green field is private land - with our project there will be 200 acres of publicly available space."