Toxic lead pollution from a chipboard factory near Stirling could increase sharply after its operators won a five-year legal battle, the Scottish Government’s green watchdog has warned.

The Canadian forestry company, West Fraser, went to court to force the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) to allow a contaminated by-product to be burnt in an energy plant at Cowie in Stirlingshire.

But Sepa has now told The Ferret that lead emissions from the plant could rise by 47 per cent as a result – and put public health and the environment at increased risk. The Cowie site is already by far the biggest lead polluter in Scotland, discharging over a tonne into the air in 2022.

The risks are “profoundly disturbing” because lead in the environment is a “serious hazard for people and nature”, experts said. They questioned whether judges were better equipped to assess pollution risks than Sepa.