Spectacular drone footage captures legacy of former Turner Brothers Asbestos site

Photo: Carl Faulkner

The former Turner Brothers Asbestos factory in Spodden Valley

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Spectacular drone footage captured by local resident Carl Faulkner has revealed just how dilapidated the former Turner Brothers Asbestos (TBA) site has become since its demise in 2001.

In 2013, a blazing fire tore through the buildings, engulfing all the floors of the three-storey construction. Firefighters spent hours battling to bring the suspected arson under control. Some of the buildings were demolished later that year.

Twelve months later, the 72-acre site was hit by another fire causing extensive damage to the derelict buildings.

The aerial footage also reveals just how vast the site of the world’s former largest asbestos textile factory in Spodden Valley truly is, allowing a clear view not visible from the nearest accessible roads and footpaths.

For over 13 years, the Save Spodden Valley campaign group has been working to secure a safe future for the controversial site.

Founded in 1871 as Turner Brothers, the plant initially manufactured cotton cloth-based packaging. In 1879, the company became the first in the UK to weave asbestos cloth and fittingly changed their name to Turner Brothers Asbestos Company.

At the height of its production, the works employed 2,000 workers and 2,000 administrators. After merging with the Washington Chemical Company, Newalls Insulation Company and J.W. Roberts in 1920, the business was renamed Turner & Newall.

In 1924, the factory was the scene of the UK’s first recorded death from asbestos exposure after worker Nellie Kershaw from Rochdale, died aged 33 of pulmonary asbestosis, a chronic disease that inflames and scars lung tissue.

Asbestos has since been linked to ‘in excess of 2,000 deaths’ from mesothelioma or asbestos-related lung cancer each year in the UK, according to the Health and Safety Executive. Symptoms take many years, even decades, to appear after originally being exposed to the microscopic fibres.

In 1998, Federal-Mogul acquired the business before going into administration in 2001. The site was sold to MMC Estates who submitted plans to build over 600 homes and a children’s nursery. The application summary claimed- despite visible asbestos hanging like cobwebs in the valley- ‘…of particular note is the absence of any asbestos contamination’. These plans were scrapped in 2010 after a determined community effort.

Speaking in 2005, a former TBA Health & Safety manager, the late Abdul Chowdry, described how TBA was refused a water extraction licence in the 1970s as mine workings beneath the site had been dumped with asbestos factory waste up until the early 1960s.

In 2013, soil tests on the TBA site confirmed asbestos contamination in most of the test holes dug and United Utilities asbestos air testing detected elevated levels of asbestos fibres in the air.

For 13 long years, Rochdale Online has reported on and investigated important issues regarding asbestos contamination at the former Turner Brothers Asbestos site in the Spodden Valley - at times in the face of costly legal threats.

• http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/news-archives?type=News&searchtype=Phrase&Criteria=spodden+valley

In recent months, the neglected site has been plagued by a number of issues. Fly-tipping, including tyres and industrial waste, leaking water pipes, and mysterious noises are just several concerns that have been reported by Rochdale Online.

Most recently, a geophysical land survey to determine the exact location of the asbestos was carried out between November 2016 and March 2017, sparking more safety concerns of the bore holes left behind.

Results of the report, carried out by environmental consultants RSK on behalf of Renshaw, are yet to be released.

• https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/111399/no-answers-to-questions-about-former-turner-brothers-asbestos-site