Council TBA Working Party see asbestos factory remediation

Dr Gregory Deleuil (pictured with William Hobhouse) described seeing the rows of trees with poignancy

Rochdale Council’s TBA Working Party and guests have been to see how an asbestos factory site has been remediated on the other side of the Pennines.

The Acre Mill site, nestled in the hills high above Hebden Bridge, was home to Cape Asbestos from the late 1930’s to the early 1970’s. 

Councillor William Hobhouse joined Save Spodden Valley campaigners, Australian asbestos cancer specialist Dr Gregory Deleuil and campaigner Laurie Kazan-Allen to visit the former asbestos factory site and nearby areas where asbestos was known to have been dumped decades ago.

It was explained to the visiting group that the main asbestos factory site was demolished in the 1970’s. The whole area was then grassed over. The surrounding area is sparsely populated. Land to the rear of the old asbestos site consists of miles of open moor land. 

“People around Hebden Bridge have been following news about the Spodden Valley via the internet. Many have expressed utter disbelief that there are plans to disturb the Rochdale asbestos factory site to build hundreds of homes and a children’s nursery” comments Jason Addy, co-ordinator of the Save Spodden Valley campaign.

At nearby Pecket Well the group viewed a former asbestos tip. It was explained that Calderdale Council had remediated the area with a special fabric membrane called geotextile before being permanently capped and trees planted to help stabilise the soil. It was suggested that concrete couldn’t have been used because it had a tendency to crack and cause subsidence if water collected up beneath it.

Dr Gregory Deleuil described seeing the rows of trees with poignancy:

“They remind me of lines Commonwealth War Graves. The sad fact is that the couple of thousand trees planted represent the known 2005 UK deaths from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma”.

Laurie Kazan-Allen commented on the contrast between attitudes to asbestos sites in Hebden Bridge and Rochdale:

“In Yorkshire the factory was demolished and the land grassed over. It appears that care has been taken to stabilise the soil with broadleaf trees. 

“2 years to the day, how sad it is to see that in the Spodden Valley, the woodlands surrounding former asbestos factory were ripped up”.    

Councillor William Hobhouse is calling for more information about the way that Calderdale Council has worked to ensure that the Scout Rd and Pecket Well dump sites have been permanently rehabilitated.

Jason Addy concluded:

We have seen what can be achieved with care and imagination. Everybody wants to see a permanent solution to the contamination problems of the Spodden Valley. What we have seen in Yorkshire may an example of a positive development to create safe amenity land.