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'CHILDREN'S MARCH'
8th February 2005
The children's march was a great sucess, attended by dozens of children and
many adults. The home made posters and banners were fantastic and everyone
had a lot of fun whilst getting a very serious message across.
Rochdale Online reported and had this report and photographs posted on their
website within an hour: Here is the address (or go to rochdaleonline.co.uk)
http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/News/news.asp?ID=449
they also reported recently with this article and photographs:
http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/News/news.asp?ID=435
Also,
STOP PRESS NEWS...
Countryside Properties have finally admitted there is a problem with
asbestos at the site- however, they maintain it is a "small area".
This is after their spokesman went on national radio to say local people were
"wrong" that asbestos is exposed in tree roots in woodland.
the following note was sent immediately to Radio 4 asking for this important
fact to be corrected.
(please feel free to quote from it for your own letters to the Observer etc)
TO RADIO 4
'YOU AND YOURS' PROGRAMME
- To listen to the report click here -
On 13th January, You and Yours reported on the proposed planning application
to build 650 homes and a children's nursery on the site of the world's
largest asbestos textile factory.
We are grateful for the care you took to ensure that everything that we
local residents alleged was correct- that is why we faxed the independent
lab certificate confirming that exposed clumps of fibres in woodland were
brown asbestos.
Mr Waite asked Ian Simpson of Countryside Properties a direct question about
the exposed asbestos:
JW: So you dispute the locals' findings?
IS: I'm saying that the site has been capped and monitored on a regular
basis.
JW: So the locals are either wrong or lying?
IS: I'm saying they're wrong because it has been capped.
The fact there is exposed asbestos on the site is very important: It
demonstrates the veracity of our campaign and the struggle we have had to
get the owners, potential developers and decision makers of the site to take
our fears seriously.
We have always been as open and honest as possible about what we know about
the asbestos factory site- Mr Simpson's dismissal of our findings of exposed
asbestos on the site was very damaging to the careful research we have
conducted. The whole country must have doubted our assertions that piles of
asbestos were exposed on that land.
Since January's broadcast, BBC television have reported on the campaign but
have doubted our assertions about exposed asbestos. Whilst this has been
very frustrating, we have tried our hardest to be heard. We even went to the
trouble of photographing the exposed asbestos beside recent newspapers in
order to prove the current threat posed by this waste in the woodland.
I have now been told that Countryside Properties, via a PR firm, have now
conceded that there may be "a small amount" of exposed asbestos that they
have just been made aware of.
INCREDIBLE!
This is a multi million pound project where an Environmental Impact
Assessment has been conducted to accompany a £100 million+ Planning
Application.
They concluded "of particular note is the absence of any asbestos
contamination" and that regular inspections of the site have been conducted
since they have had an interest in the land.
Without sounding too glib, more care may have been taken to inspect a second
hand car before investing in it.
The publishing of a Planning Application isn't the 'start of a long
process'- surely investigations are conducted first, BEFORE committing to a
project to put homes and a children's nursery on an asbestos factory site.
Sorry for the diatribe but we are shocked about what has been said and the
manner in which this Planning Application is being conducted:
-A grudging acknowledgment that there is exposed asbestos on the site.
-Hundreds of trees clear-felled without a felling licence as required by law
yet no prosecution.
-The council's contaminated land officer resigning- leaving what could be
this areas most controversial brown-field planning application to be decided
without a qualified person in post.
When you read this message, schoolchildren are preparing to march to the
planning department to voice their concerns- this is an issue that has
brought the whole community together- old, young, rich, poor- asbestos does
not discriminate.
Please, is there any way to set the record straight, with a follow-up of
your 13th January broadcast?
Please can we have the opportunity to set the record straight?
We wish we were wrong- who wants to have asbestos exposed in their
community?
But unfortunately we are not wrong-
Please can you ask Countryside Properties to correct their comments made on
your programme?
regards
Jason Addy
........................................................................................................................................................................................
STATEMENT ENDS.
