Kids ‘playing with asbestos’

Concerned Steve Ferguson contacted the Guardian after Bassetlaw Council failed to remove it despite him making two phone calls.

“My wife first noticed the asbestos that had been dumped behind the children’s play park behind the Beckett Avenue Post Office 10 days ago,” said Mr Ferguson.

“It has got all broken and smashed up because the children are moving it and have started playing with it and using it to make dens.”

Mr Ferguson said they were so concerned that his wife reported the asbestos to Environmental Health at the council straight away.

“But then when we checked it was still there on Friday so we called and spoke to them again,” he said.

“They seemed to take ages trying to find the previous request we had made, and eventually they told me that it was someone in parks and gardens I needed to speak to.”

“I was told it is difficult to move and they have to take precautions, meanwhile the children are still playing with it.”

“It’s getting smashed up even more the more they play with it and it is dangerous for them,” he added.

A spokesman for Bassetlaw Council said the authority only have a record of one phone call being made by the Fergusons about the asbestos - the one made on Friday.

The council also believes that the asbestos had been there for some considerable time, rather than being newly dumped when the Fergusons spotted it.

“We received a report from a member of the public of some cement bonded corrugated asbestos sheets having been fly-tipped in the undergrowth at the back of the old allotment site on Oxford Road in Carlton,” he continued.

“An officer with specialist asbestos training attended the scene at the earliest opportunity and following a rigorous assessment the dumped materials were immediately removed.”

“It was clear that the cement bonded asbestos, which is a low risk category had been in situ for a number of years, the sheets were non fibrous and there was no evidence of asbestos dust.”

“We are very grateful to the residents who reported this to the council,” he added.

It costs the council around £100,000 a year to clear up fly tipped waste and dispose of it – a cost passed on to local taxpayers and landowners.

To report any instances of illegal fly tipping to Bassetlaw Council call the council tip off line on 01909 534501 or use the online form available at www.bassetlaw.gov.uk/environment/fly_tipping