Green Activist Mick Coat's Statement

 on the Rochdale Turner Brothers Asbestos Site:

I must apologise for my unavoidable absence; accordingly I have submitted this written report with regard to matters surrounding the TBA site and my concerns.  Clearly there are a number of issues that should be in the public domain.
Afterall it is us who are most affected by the problems of this highly contaminated site.

This is the question I put to Rochdale Township regarding the TBA site.
'Has the site survey on contamination been completed?  Are there any preliminary results and will these be shared with RMBC councillors and council officers?  Will these be shared with the Save Spodden Valley group?  What action do the owners intend to take to remove the illegally dumped rubbish on their site? What progress has been made in terms of prosecution by the Environment Agency?  What action has the council taken to address the public health threat posed by this rubbish to the residents of Rochdale?'
I recieved the following replies.
First, the survey has been completed this month.  Originally we were told it would be completed in 3 weeks in October.  However it took 4 to 5 months.
Why?

Secondly, I asked if preliminary results would be shared with councillors, council officers or experts from Save Spodden Valley?  The response was that the report would eventually be published at a later date. Presumably the answer to my question was 'no'.

Thirdly I asked about all the rubbish that had been dumped on the site by the lorry load.  No information was forthcoming about a prosecution by the Environment Agency, the response being that this was in the hands of the Environment Agency.
No comment was made with regard to the council's duty to protect public health.

I prefaced my question by saying that in the light of the council's wish to see 250 houses on site (Stragetic Housing Land Availability Assessment 2016) the problems of the site should be dealt with in a transparent and open way.
In addition I offered to take councillors and council officers round the site to show them my concerns. This was met with a stoney silence from the councillors.  Clearly not interested.

Subsequently Cllr Biant has ascerted that the rubbish is 'mainly inert'.
What does she mean by 'inert' – not dangerous, not disease ridden, not contaminated?  What tests have been done?  As this is private land what tests have the site owners undertaken, or have the council undertaken tests on behalf of the owners?  Can we have access to the results of these tests?
And most alarmingly,  MAINLY inert. I really do not think that mainly is good enough. Just a few germs, a little bit of asbestos?   Not good enough.

It seems that the phrase 'mainly inert' is more appropriately applied to councillors, not the rubbish on site.

Mick Coats

Rooley Moor Road

Norman Smith MBE & lesser critics of N.V.

Northern Voices Editor - Brian Bamford

THE letter below from the former Rochdale Mayor, Norman Fowden Smith MBE, who has recently died, was sent a decade ago to Harold Sculthorpe, who was then part of the editorial committee  of Northern Voices.  It is addressed to the editor, Brian Bamford, and purports to be a complaint about coverage of Mr. N. Smith in the NV No.6 edition of that journal in which there was reference to his support for developers on the Spodden Valley site with its serious issues with regard to the threat of asbestos disturbance.  Norman had been referred to as 'a stout defender' of the developers.  Mr. N.F.Smith is of course the brother of the then famous and influential figure Sir Cyril Smith, who lived on Emma Street in Rochdale.  Norman Smith was perhaps the first person to threaten Northern Voices, but others followed; notably the veteran anarchist, Ronald Marsden, of Barlow Moor Road, West Didsbury who, in 2009, objected to something in NV in which attention was drawn to his acquisition of some photos of a refugee camp in Lancashire: he went on threaten NV with 'criminal libel' and bullied our printer and some of our outlets.  Then there were two individuals Matthew Baker, formerly an aide to Simon Danczuk, and the former police officer and later lecturer, Gordon Mills, who both complained that NV had wrongly said they were 'sacked' from their posts.  We corrected these admitted errors but both Baker and Mills went on to threaten NV with allusions to defamation.  In the case of Gordon Mills he also challenged the Guardian, the Morning Star and the USI over similar issues.  We understand that the GMB union is presently his target.*
Besides these litigious personalities there have been other valiant attempts to persuade us to watch our backs.  In 2012, the 'anarchist' former school teacher, Sally Miller nee Hyman, recruited a contingent of schoolboys to ambush a bookseller at the London Anarchist Bookfair and tried to have the publication removed from sale. 
The letter sent a decade ago from Norman F. Smith to Harold Sculthorpe and addressed to Brian Bamford as editor, is as represented below, it was all in capital letters:

FROM MR NORMAN SMITH MBE,

TO:  MR BRIAN BAMFORD

NORTHERN VOICES.

DEAR MR BAMFORD

THANK YOU FOR YOUR LETTER AND COPY OF YOUR NO.6 N. VOICES.

        I VERY STRONGLY OBJECT TO YOUR ARTICLE.  I HAVE NEVER ONCE DEFENDED THE DEVELOPERS RE. SPODDEN VALLY, OR SUPPORTED THEM.  TO SAY SO IS A LIE AND YOU KNOW IT.  I FIND YOUR ARTICLE AND REFERENCES OBJECTIONABLE AND SEE NO REASON TO REFER TO MY BROTHER.

I HAVE SPOKEN TO MY SOLICITOR, AND I HAVE GOOD REASON TO CONSIDER YOUR ASSERTIONS TO BE LIBELLOUS.

ALL I HAVE EVER DONE IS STATE THE LEGAL POSITION, PLANNING WISE AND HOW – NOT IF – IT SHOULD BE OPPOSED.

I REQUIRE A FULL PUBLISHED APOLOGY FROM YOU, IN YOUR “NORTHERN VOICES” AND A STATEMENT OF THE ABOVE FACT, AND AN ADMISSION THAT WHAT YOU WROTE WAS AN UNTRUTH.  I ALSO REQUIRE YOU SEND ME THE RELEVANT ISSUE – FREE.

Norman F Smith.

Owing to our knowledge of the past involvement of Sir Cyril Smith MBE with Turner Bros. Asbestos Company, and the supportive comments of his brother Norman F. Smith MBE with regard to the developers plans to build on Spodden Valley, Northern Voices refused to give either an apology to Mr. N. F. Smith or to offer him a free copy of Northern Voices.  We heard nothing further from either Norman F. Smith MBE or his brother Cyril.

*  A retired policeman who worked for a secretive unit monitoring political protests is suing a trade union over claims that he colluded with an unlawful blacklisting operation that prevented construction workers from getting jobs.

In a libel claim lodged in the High Court, Gordon Mills, who worked for five years in the unit, has accused the GMB of defaming him and is claiming up to £10,000 in damages.
His legal action is being defended by the GMB which said it had been acting in the public interest. The union said there was “credible evidence” suggesting that Mills, while he was a police officer, shared information with construction firms which were funding a clandestine blacklist of workers.

For more go to

Former police officer suing GMB trade union for defamation | UK news ...

https://www.theguardian.com 

UK asbestos giant spied on activists

Sent in by Unite trade unionist, Joe Bailey

EXECUTIVES at the world’s biggest asbestos factory spied on journalists, safety and environmental campaigners who exposed the killer dust’s dangers.  Secret industry documents seen by The Independent reveal that the executives at Rochdale-based asbestos giant Turner and Newall (T&N) monitored people they considered to be “subversive" and kept a dossier on their activities at the height of the debate about the mineral’s safety in the 1980s.

Those identified in the report include the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science (BSSRS) – the organisation that set up what became Hazards magazine – Alan Dalton, the now deceased former union national safety officer and author of ‘Asbestos Killer Dust’, journalists working on an award-winning asbestos documentary and Friends of the Earth.   Also targeted was Nancy Tait, the founder of the world’s first asbestos victims’ advocacy group, an asbestos widow who died in 2009.  The firm then used a media and political campaign to try to discredit its critics, the documents show.

The T&N documentation was unearthed by Manchester Metropolitan University’s Jason Addy as part of 12 years of research into the firm’s toxic legacy.  The trained lawyer told Hazards magazine:

“My research findings give me great cause for concern. There must be an investigation into Turner and Newall's role in undermining the democratic process, especially in light of the ongoing Pitchford enquiry and blacklisting court case. Who guards the guards?”

Ÿ  The Independent. IBAS blog. Hazards magazine.

Asbestos in Schools from Joe Bailey

AiS and JUAC Key Recommendations for Asbestos in Schools  #IWMD15 

1. There is a major problem of asbestos in schools. 86% of schools in the country contain asbestos, it is now all old and there is extensive evidence that in some schools it is regularly disturbed so that children and school staff are exposed. The inevitable result is that people are dying. 

2. 291 school teachers have died of mesothelioma since 1980, with 158 dying in the last ten years. School cleaners, cooks, caretakers, teaching assistants and school secretaries are also dying. But they are the tip of the iceberg as for every teacher there are twenty to thirty children who are more vulnerable to exposure to asbestos than adults, the younger the child the greater the risk. It is estimated that each year between 200 to 300 people will die from their asbestos exposure as a child at school. The estimate was made based on exposures in the 1960s and 1970s, but all the asbestos is now old and many schools have not been well maintained – so the exposures continue. 

3. The following are key recommendations of the Asbestos in Schools Group and the Joint Union Asbestos Committee:

* The increased vulnerability of children to asbestos must underlie all future asbestos policies for schools. 

* A risk benefit analysis should be carried out, and made public, that assesses how many staff and pupils are likely to have died and will die from their asbestos exposure at school. It should assess how much it costs to manage asbestos in the nation’s schools and how much a long term strategy of asbestos removal would cost.  As part of that the Government should assess the extent of the asbestos problem in schools.

* Asbestos can be one of the most expensive items in maintaining, refurbishing or demolishing a school. But the Government is unaware of the scale of the asbestos problem in schools and they specifically, and inexplicably, excluded asbestos from the £20 million audit of the condition of school buildings. Because of this any future financial forecasts will be meaningless. AiS has always recommended that there should be an audit of the extent, type and condition of asbestos in the nation’s schools so that long term policy can be set, financial forecasts made and those schools with the most dangerous asbestos can be identified and priority given for the removal of asbestos.  

* Asbestos insulation board that is accessible to children in schools should never be classed as ‘low’ risk. It should at the very least be enclosed, but AiS recommend that it should be removed.  

* Asbestos training should be mandatory for school governors, headteachers, teachers and all support staff with the training tailored to their role. 

* As the majority of schools will have to manage their asbestos long into the future a system must be reintroduced that ensures they are maintaining effective and safe standards of asbestos management. AiS recommends that proactive inspections of the standards of asbestos management in all schools should be reintroduced. They should carried out by HSE. 

* There has always been a lack of openness over asbestos in schools. It is not acceptable that a few should know the facts and for those facts to be kept from others. AiS has always recommended that a policy of openness is adopted so that people are told the truth.

* So long as asbestos remains in schools it is inevitable that it will be disturbed and damaged so that children and staff are exposed. AiS recommends that the government adopts a long term strategy for the removal of all asbestos from schools, with priority being given to those schools that contain the most dangerous asbestos. Only then will the problem of asbestos in schools be finally eradicated.
AiS and JUAC Statement for International Workers Memorial Day  28 April   #IWMD15
Asbestos in Schools, AiS : www.asbestosexposureschools.co.uk  Joint Union Asbestos Committee, JUAC: www.juac.org.uk/

Danczuk M.P.: Cancer in the Community

IN tomorrow's Rochdale Observer Les May has a letter drawing attention to Simon Danczuk's hypocritical support for the sale of tobacco, and comparing it with the chapter in Danczuk's book lampooning  Cyril Smith for championing a local asbestos  company in the 1970s and 80s.  Mr. Danczuk accepted hospitality to the value of £1,389 from Japanese Tobacco PLC in August 2011, after he had voted against the first reading of Alex Cunningham's Private Member's Bill banning smoking in cars carrying children in June 2011. 

In the Rochdale Observer, Les May writes:

'... I have no problem with an M.P. who votes according to his or her conscience, indeed I would expect no less.  But to accept hospitality to the value of £1,389 from a tobacco company in August of that year (2011), then in 2014 to co-author a book which devotes 25 pages to attacking Cyril Smith for his support of an asbestos company and a month after to accept hospitality to the value of £1,404 from the same company, I consider to be rank hypocrisy.'

Despite this evidence Mr. Danczuk, the M.P. for Rochdale, told the Rochdale Observer on the 21^st, February 2015, that 'he would not allow such hospitality to sway his voting and that he had supported the ban on smoking in cars  with children'.  He also added:  'that he takes a 'pragmatic' view on smoking as it is a 'pleasure that has been demonised in recent years'. 

Nor will he let it get in the way of his trips the Oval or the Chelsea Flower Show with Mrs. Danczuk.

Asbestos Deaths in Greater Manchester

TOWN hall bosses throughout Greater Manchester are facing a ‘ticking timebomb’ of mounting claims from people struck down with conditions linked to deadly asbestos.

Manchester council paid out almost £600,000 in damages to victims in the last year alone, an M.E.N. investigation has found.
The 2013/14 claims had to be settled using taxpayers’ money, rather than through insurance as the cases predated the 1980s when the council did not have asbestos cover.
Figures obtained under Freedom of Information requests reveal victims of asbestos-related diseases have won a total of £1.8m in damages from councils in Greater Manchester in recent years.
Campaigners believe payments are likely to soar over the coming decade as more people fall ill and die after being exposed to the material.

Mesothelioma in numbers

1,500

Number of mesothelioma deaths in GM in last 30 years

90

Number of deaths in 2011

£1.8m

What our councils have paid out in damages

The compensation claims came from victims who breathed in asbestos fibres in buildings like schools, offices and community centres.
It can cause mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer, which attacks the lining of organs and is always fatal.
The number of people killed by the disease has soared by 500 per cent in the last 30 years – with new cases expected to peak in 2020.
The number of people killed by the asbestos-related cancer has soared by 500 per cent between 1982 and 2011.
Figures, released by the Health and Safety Executive, show that 90 people died of mesothelioma in Greater Manchester in 2011 – compared to 15 in 1982.
Deaths from the asbestos-related cancer, which is always fatal, peaked at 100 in 2010, according to the statistics.
Graham Dring, coordinator of Greater Manchester Asbestos Victims Support Group, said: “Compensation payouts will probably rise as new mesothelioma cases continue to increase.
“The dangers of asbestos have been known about for decades but too often ignored.
“The epidemic we see now was a man-made disaster and avoidable. Profits were put before the health and safety of working men and women who are the ones paying the price for employer and political negligence.”

Mesothelioma in figures

700: Number of schools which still contain asbestos

£150k:  Amount Bury council paid to a fireman exposed to asbestos

500%:  Rise in cases since 1982
 

At least 1,600 of the region’s local authority buildings – including 700 schools – still contain asbestos, which was widely-used in the construction industry from the 1950s until the 1990s.
It is thought the majority of asbestos victims to date will have been construction workers - although Mr Dring said he expected professions like teachers, office workers and caretakers to be increasingly affected in the future.
Between them, the region’s councils have spent millions managing asbestos over the last five years – including carrying out repair work on buildings and surveys in schools.
But Mr Dring said: “The risks will continue if the dangers of asbestos in our public buildings is not taken seriously.
"In an ideal world, asbestos should be stripped from all public buildings, especially schools, where there is risk of children being exposed. In an era of financial restraints, this may not be realistic in the short term.
“However, we think local authorities should have a programme and targets for removing asbestos where and when they can.”
The Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK organised a lobby at this week’s Labour conference in Manchester - calling for guaranteed research funding, paid for by a levy on insurers and matched by Government funding, to find a cure for mesothelioma.
They are also demanding full compensation for victims who cannot find an employer or insurer under the ‘Diffuse Mesothelioma Payments Scheme’ - rather than the current 80 per cent paid out.

My husband was pleased to see the town hall accept blame before he died 

  A retired heating engineer who contracted mesothelioma through work found out he had won damages from Manchester council just three weeks before he died.
William Berisford was exposed to asbestos while fitting and repairing boilers during his 30 years at the town hall’s direct works department.
He was diagnosed with mesothelioma in May last year and doctors at Wythenshawe Hospital gave him 12 months to live.
The 75-year-old survived for only eight months - just long enough to see the council agree to pay him compensation.
His widow Joan Berisford, from Heald Green, Stockport, described the sum as ‘reasonable’ and said her husband was pleased to see the town hall accept blame before he died.

But she added his death had left her angry because their retirement together had been ‘snatched away’.
Mrs Berisford said: “He could have had another 10 years. We were at the stage where we were going on holiday often and going out often, just generally enjoying our retirement. That has been snatched away from us now.”
Grandmother-of-two Mrs Berisford, 74, told how the cancer diagnosis ‘devastated’ the couple, who would have been married 55 years this year.
She added: “That first day we found out we both cried all day. But after that, Bill took it on the chin.
“The last two to three months were awful. He was on oxygen and every time he stood up he fell over. In the end, we were just glad to see him not suffer any more.”

Mrs Berisford said she had ‘strong views’ about asbestos and believed it should be stripped from public buildings, especially schools, to prevent more people suffering like her husband did.
Pauline Chandler, a specialist in asbestos disease cases at Manchester law firm Slater & Gordon, which represented Mrs Berisford, said: “We have successfully concluded a number of cases against the council for asbestos-related claims, many of them like Mrs Berisford’s are sadly fatal.
“The widespread use of asbestos, in and on council premises in the 1950s right through to the 1980s, mean we expect to see even more people coming forward with claims.
"It is hoped the council faces up to its responsibilities regarding such cases and settles them as quickly as possible for the sake of those affected.”

Mesothelioma: Deaths in 2011

1. WIGAN: 16
2. TAMESIDE: 15
3. STOCKPORT: 14
4. TRAFFORD: 12
5. MANCHESTER: 9
6. BOLTON: 7
7. BURY: 7
8. MANCHESTER: 9
9. OLDHAM: 5
10. ROCHDALE: 4
11. SALFORD: 1

Total: 90

How much has been paid to victims so far

Bolton council: £440,000 for exposure to asbestos dating back to 1960.
Bury council: £150,000 in 2013 to a fireman exposed to asbestos between 1958 and 1974.
Salford council: £118,000 in compensation for exposure going back to 1959.
Tameside council: £165,000 on two claims – one in 2012 and one in 2014.
Trafford council: £50,000 in 2013/2014 following a claim of exposure to asbestos at a community centre in Sale around 1949.
Wigan council: The council and its insurers paid out £295,000 since 2001 on six claims relating to exposure between the 1950s and 1980s in local authority offices, schools and sites.
Oldham, Rochdale and Stockport councils have not paid any damages relating to asbestos-related diseases.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/ticking-timebomb-asbestos-compensation-crisis-7832859

Fatty Farnell Snubs 'Spoof Party'

in bid to keep up 'Standards' 

FATTY Farnell (still with his bad back but minus his hearing-aid), who became the leader of  Rochdale Council after overthrowing its previous occupant, Colin Lambert, in a brutal democratic coup within the local Labour Party after the local elections last May, last night presided over the Full Council meeting and denounced the newly formed Rochdale First Group as a 'Spoof Party',' and as having no credibility.  Both Councillor Farnell and his Conservative colleague, Ashley Dearnley, the leader of the Rochdale Tories, belittled Rochdale First whose membership consists of its leader Councillor Shefali Farooq Ahmed, and her husband Farooq Ahmed.  

 

Cheekily Mrs. Shefali Farooq had put down an amendment to Agenda Item 10 entitled 'Review of the Political Balance', which was seconded by the other Rochdale First Group member, Mr. Farooq himself.  Their amendment was lost, receiving all of two votes, after Fatty reminded councillors that Mr. Farooq had fallen foul of the law last January by 'threatening' his Labour Party colleague, Councillor Neil Emmot, in an altercation on Cheetham Street, Rochdale.  Mr. Farooq had allegedly called Mr. Emmot a 'queer little arse-licker' and told him to 'watch his back'.  Mr. Farooq, last night told Northern Voices that he was definitely going to appeal the public order conviction.   

Given Mr. Farooq's conviction, Fatty Farnell denounced Rochdale First Group's naughty demand to be allocated places on the 'Overview & Scrutiny Committee', the 'Employment & Equalities Committee' and the 'Standards Committee' in order to achieve political balance.  Given Mr Farooq's recent run-in with the law, Fatty said that the Rochdale First Group had never stood as such in a democratic 'election in this borough'. Fatty clearly regarded it as outrageous that, with Councillor Farooq Ahmed having a bit of a 'history', this newly formed party, led by Councillor Shefali Farooq Ahmed, should have the audacity to expect to be awarded a place on the Standards Committee.

Bad Headlines 

Councillor Duckworth raised the recent problem of 'bad headlines' for Rochdale and the need of the Council to promoted the good news about 'our town' such as the town's medieval bridges still encased in concrete beneath the town centre; Rochdale's splendid Town Hall which many would regard as something 'to die for'; the proposed statue to commemorate our Gracie, but not Turner Brother asbestos factory or since November 2012, Cyril Smith.  





'Heritage at Risk' 

Questioned about the peril to four conservation areas in Rochdale identified as 'at risk' by English Heritage, Councillor Biant, Portfolio Holder for Public Health & Regulation, was not able to say what kind of risks were at stake as she had not yet read the report which would be published by English Heritage in the Autumn of 2014.  The areas identified as 'at risk' included Rochdale Town Centre, Middleton Town Centre, Wardle and Castleton (South) Conservation Areas. 

Turner Brothers' Site Awaits Advice from Lawyers

There were no questions on the controversial former asbestos factory Turners Bros., as though Building Control had had talks with 'interested parties', including the owners of the site, which has been the subject of concern for years owing to persistent vandalism and arson, the Council is still waiting for further legal advice.  In this case it is the Health & Safety Executive that is the 'lead enforcement authority on this site with regards to asbestos removal – and not the Council'. 

Blue Plaques for Gracie Fields

Plans are continuing to build a statue to commemorate Gracie Fields who was a celebrated singer in the last century and who was born on Molesworth Street, Rochdale.  She came from a poor background to become a famous film star and distinguished singer.  The Council aims to put up eight blue plaques to pinpoint key locations in her life as part of a heritage trail.   One hopes they have more luck with this venture than they did when they put up a blue plaque for Cyril Smith in 2011.  

Protest against Government neglect of asbestos cases

Patients and bereaved families hold public meeting in Manchester to call on Government to end ‘shameful’ neglect of asbestos-related cancer

Local patients, families, medical professionals, charities, MPs and peers will gather outside Manchester Town Hall at 12.30 on Friday 4^th July, to call for more funding for research into the fatal asbestos-related cancer, mesothelioma. The latest government figures, released by the Health & Safety Executive only yesterday, reveal a shocking increase to 2,535 deaths in 2012, an increase of more than 10% on the previous year.

The event, organised by the Greater Manchester Asbestos Victims Support Group (GMAVSG) to mark national Action Mesothelioma Day, is part of a nationwide campaign for sustainable mesothelioma research funding, involving charities including the GMAVSG, Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK, the British Lung Foundation, and Mesothelioma UK. Local MPs, including Labour Shadow Health Spokesperson Andy Burnham MP, will speak at the rally and cross-bench peer Lord Alton who, alongside the late Wythenshawe MP Paul Goggins, has been one of the leading campaigners for more research funding into mesothelioma, will address the public meeting. Alessandro Pugno from the Italian Asbestos Victims campaign group, who lost his own stepfather to mesothelioma in 2000, will also speak at the public meeting.

The release of a flock of doves into the air, in memory of the tens of thousands of people in Manchester and around the country who have died of the disease, is expected to be one of the most poignant moments of the event.

The UK has the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world. Greater Manchester has higher than average rates of mesothelioma, due to its history of industries involved in asbestos production and use. The disease is expected to kill around 60,000 people over the next 30 years unless new treatments are found. Despite this, however, investment in mesothelioma research has long been dwarfed by amounts invested in cancers that kill similar numbers of people, such as skin cancer and myeloma.

Graham Dring of Greater Manchester Asbestos Victims Support Group:

“New cases of mesothelioma in Greater Manchester are increasing year on year. It is vital that the Government commits research funding to give some hope to sufferers, most of whom contracted this disease simply by going to work”.

Malcolm Yates, mesothelioma patient from Blackrod :

“One of the worst aspects of being diagnosed with mesothelioma was the despair of knowing that there were no treatments available. It just left us feeling so hopeless. We desperately need more funding for mesothelioma research, so that families can hope for a future.”

Rochdale 'Deaths Must Stop,' says activist Jason Addy

ANTI-ASBESTOS campaigner Jason Addy drew attention last week to a new report by an independent advisory committee that has concluded that children who grew up near an active asbestos plant in Australia were more likely to die from cancer caused by their exposure to the material.  Jason leads Rochdale's Save Spodden Vally (SSV) campaign, that has campaigned for almost a decade against plans to develop the former site of the Turner Brother's Asbestos (TBA) factory near local beauty spot Healey Dell.   This new report comes two-and-a-half years after a scheme to build 600 homes on the site was thrown out by the Rochdale council.

Jason  Addy, who was formerly a delegate on Tameside Trade Union Council, declared:
'For nine long years we have cited various scientific papers that hint at the concern that children are more vulnerable to asbestos.  Our worries centred on any proposals that could place very young children in childcare facilities on top of the site or in homes with gardens were there could come into contact with low level yet significant amounts of asbestos in soil.  (This report could be the final nail in the coffin of attempts to put profits before people).  Rochdale's children must be our main priority.  Our town has suffered enough from the cruel injustice caused by asbestos cancer.  The deaths must stop.'

At present the Rochdale site is owned by an off-shore investment company, but Mr. Addy and his SSV campaign group believe the site should be turned into a park to stop the land being disturbed, and to prevent the deadly asbestos fibres being released into the air.  Mr. Addy said:  'The safest way to ensure this is to take a precautionary approach to the site (with) no mechanical disturbance of the soil.  Cap it and help it become a "green lung" for Rochdale as an extension of Healey Dell.'

The new report by the Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment found that: 
'Exposure of children to asbestos is likely to render them more vulnerable to developing mesothelioma than exposure of adults to the equivalent dose.'

Rochdale's Spodden Valley & Asbestos Threat

LAST Friday, the abandoned asbestos factory, formerly Turner Brothers, was set on fire in the early hours.  In tomorrows Rochdale Observer the head of planning on Rochdale Council said:  'The fire has now potentially made the site subject to action under thew Building Acts.'  It seems,according to Mr Rowlingson that because of the risk of asbestos polluting the surrounding area, the council 'could protect the building and could then seek to recover its costs from the owner.' 

The site is now owned by Renshaw Properties Ltd., a British Virgin Isles registered company, owned by two family trusts, for which the Jersey-based Hawksford acts as trustees.  The cost to clean up the site has been put at £17m.  

We are certainly missing Jason Addy now,  and his campaign organisation, the Spodden Valley group.  Mr. Addy who got married last year and moved to Clitheroe, had for over ten years led a campaign to clean up Spodden Valley where the Turners Brothers site is.