LARGE quantities of potentially lethal chemicals have been found left at a disused factory site in Shanklin.

Up to 300,000 gallons of chemicals remain at the former Teknacron site, an arrangement likened by one councillor to one of Saddam Hussein's supposed chemical weapons stores.

Residents say the site, increasingly the target of vandalism, is a time bomb waiting to explode.

The chemicals, including nitric acid and caustic soda are left over from the days when printed electronic circuit boards were produced at the Landguard Road site.

Now the site has been put under 24-hour security following a meeting last week between the IW Council, site owners Mace Master Properties, the Environment Agency, the fire service and the police.

Afterwards, Shanklin IW councillor John Fleming said: "This sounds like a chemical factory in Baghdad. Is this Saddam's secret cache?

"We have got to get the stuff off the site as soon as possible."

One resident, who would not be named, said: "There is a cocktail of chemicals there that should not be mixed and it is a timebomb waiting to explode.

"If it did go up there is no doubt that it would mean the evacuation of the holiday centres that are on its doorstep.

"The Americans might have found very little so far in Iraq but there is a chemical cocktail on this site that they would have been delighted to have discovered in Saddam's arsenal."

Lower Hyde resident Clifford Webb said the site had been empty since Christmas 2001, and in three brick built stores, where there was open access, were various carboys of nitric acid, caustic soda and industrial fluxes. He added: "I am surprised no one has been injured and am pleased something has been done at last."

A council spokesman said the site owners had been instructed to remove the chemicals.

Stephen Manuel, director of Mace Master Properties, said the firm had believed the site was secure and only discovered this week that vandals had been getting in.

He said the firm was in the process of removing the chemicals.

The site would be redeveloped for housing.