Serious concerns about Rochdale asbestos air monitoring

Exposed asbestos in the Spodden Valley

An email exchange could cast doubt on the nature of Rochdale Council's “reassurance” testing of air around the former Turner Brothers Asbestos site in the Spodden Valley.

Correspondence from Rochdale Council to a member of the public, Delwyn Bale of Dell Road, asks for his permission to have monitoring equipment installed in his garden - Mr Bale gave his permission immediately. Soon after, Mr Bale started to read archived Rochdale Online news articles about the issues regarding asbestos and the TBA site. As a result, he emailed some questions back to Rochdale Council. The official response and attitude openly expressed by Michael Moore, Senior Public Protection Officer, shocked Mr Bale.

Mr Moore's response to the questions asked by Mr Bale was that Rochdale Council would consider “other options” to site the monitoring equipment.

Such comments raise important questions about the report presented to Rochdale councillors in order to agree the air monitoring. In the report presented by chief Public Protection Officer Andy Glover (at paragraph 4.2) it states the sites for the test equipment have been “carefully selected”.

It appears this “careful selection” has now excluded Mr Bale's property from having the air monitoring equipment following his questions.

Asked why Mr Bale's previously 'carefully selected' property has suddenly been excluded as a monitoring site by the council following his questions, Andy Glover, Rochdale Borough Council’s Chief Public Protection Officer, said: “A number of factors are taken into account when selecting sites for air monitoring equipment. A number of local residents who live around the site were approached to see if they would host equipment and those best suited to the task have been selected.”

Reaction has been damning.

Jason Addy, co-ordinator of the Save Spodden Valley campaign, expressed concern: “I have read the email trail: Mr Bale's questions appear reasonable and measured. However, the official responses seem furtive, evasive and dismissive.

“Prior to being a Public Protection Officer, Mr Moore's title was Senior Contaminated Land Officer. To claim in an email that there is 'misinformation' about asbestos and the TBA site is an extraordinary public statement. Beyond the specific sensitivity of the issues regarding asbestos and the TBA site, a local authority has a number of statutory duties that must be delivered in an unbiased and reasonable manner. This email trail raises significant questions about official attitudes regarding the motivation and detail of the proposed air monitoring. We are currently in the dark about much of this. There must be scrutiny. All aspects of this process needs to open and accountable.

“In fairness, I have personally found many senior Rochdale council officers in recent years to be both helpful and conscientious. However, Mr Moore's comments via email are a shock – at best they are exceedingly unprofessional.”

The Greater Manchester Hazards Centre (GMHC) has been involved in the issues regarding asbestos and the former T&N asbestos factory site in the Spodden Valley for over 11 years. Hilda Palmer of GMHC told Rochdale Online: "GMHC is concerned at the way in which Rochdale MBC is approaching the asbestos contamination at the T&N Site. We feel that comments by a senior officer of RMBC to a concerned member of the public implying that much of the information about the site on the internet is misleading are unhelpful and potentially biased.

"This fear is reinforced by the fact that when local people asked to host an asbestos sampling site ask legitimate questions, then the sample site is moved elsewhere! This is hardly reassuring as it does not suggest a systematic and rigorous sampling system necessary to provide meaningful results. Nor does it suggest openness and transparency on the part of RMBC."