To the letters Editor, Rochdale Observer
Re: Emergency Road Closure- Woodlands Rd, Spodden Valley

23rd May 2005.

I have carefully read the Rochdale Observer reports and the developers’ press
release on this

Who are MMC / Countryside Properties trying to kid with the reasons given for
closing a whole road off for up to 19 months? – Their press release implies that
local people have been digging up the soil and putting our community’s health
at risk! Local people know that asbestos is a killer- it has been killing our friends,
neighbours and families for decades. For MMC Estates / Countryside Properties
to suggest that local people are threatening health is an insult.

Countryside Properties are acknowledged by many as a nationally respected,
award-winning house builder. Why are they suggesting such serious allegations
that may not be substantiated?

The “worrying” “unofficial removal of land” that prompted this Emergency Notice
was NEVER mentioned at a meeting Save Spodden Valley attended with
Countryside Properties on Thursday12th May and attended by several
councillors, the chief planning officer and the Head of Planning and Regulation
for Rochdale Council.

Saturday’s Observer quotes an MMC spokesman as saying this meeting WAS
informed of the Emergency Closure Notice. Who is right about this important fact?
- either MMC / Countryside Properties OR Councillors, the senior planning officer
and the Head of Planning?

Suggestions that local people are disturbing soil on a known asbestos tip, so
risking public health is an exceedingly serious allegation.

I view the allegation as completely without any credibility- especially when it
comes from the same building consortium that suggested that local people
were "causing trouble" by dumping asbestos on the site "to make it look bad"
for the owners.(a man wearing an “MMC Estates” jacket said this to passers-by
as decontamination work started at Woodlands Rd in February 2005-
I understand that letters describing this were sent by eye-witnesses to the
Rochdale Observer but were never published).

It was reported on BBC TV news last week that the amount of disturbed soil
that has closed the road was about “a shovelful”. It is about time Rochdale had
some answers about this. Emergency Road Notices are designed to deal with
imminent threats to public health- nuclear leaks, chemical plant explosions or
imminent building collapses.

The developers now state that “public health is paramount”.
However, looking back over the last 12 months a pattern seems to be forming…

(To read more accounts see: www.Spodden-Valley.co.uk)
BUT - type carefully for now, because Countryside Properties even went to
the trouble to buy up such domains names as SaveSpoddenValley.com !

- in a welcome move by Countryside, following arbitration from Nominet, it
appears that these domain names are to be transferred to our campaign)

So, regarding public health ‘being paramount’…

Who ordered dozens of chainsaw wielding forestry workers to sneak onto the
site with JCB's at dawn on Saturday morning a year ago (15th May 2004)?
-THE DEVELOPERS

Who ordered the destruction of hundreds of trees (with nesting birds and bats
in them?) and ripped up countless tree roots on the asbestos factory site?
–THE DEVELOPERS

Countryside Properties say it has nothing to do with this destruction of
woodland habitats- however, the Land Registry title proves that they had
signed an Option Agreement on the land the month BEFORE the woodlands
were destroyed

They then applied for planning permission to build on the areas of destroyed
woodland- 30+ houses on the site of "plot 5" and
A community centre (including a children's nursery on "plot 14").
The developers’ website now says it will not build where woodlands were
destroyed in May 2004-that is a positive move.

Unfortunately, the past 12 months have seen many sorry episodes on this site...

Who organised the digging of large holes with a JCB on the asbestos factory
site in August 2004 without anybody (such as Rochdale Council and the Health
and Safety executive HSE) apparently being informed? -THE DEVELOPERS.

Who employed contractors to drag bags full of asbestos waste up stony steep
hillsides- without wearing masks or protective suits properly? (A reporter from
Private Eye magazine filmed this and sent the tape to the HSE for an investigation).
-THE DEVELOPERS.

To want close over half a mile of road and cycle path for 18 months begs many
questions-

-does asbestos only travel along the road and stop at Give Way markings?
If over half a mile of road has to be closed down what happens to all the homes,
roads and businesses within a half mile radius?

Cynics may suggest that the 18 month ban is just an excuse to keep people
from seeing what is happening on the site- after all, eye-witnesses, photos and
camcorders have recorded some questionable activity over the past 12 months.
An immediate public ban could put an end to such scrutiny.

It is odd that the only place where the developers have acknowledged there is
a problem (adjoining Woodlands Rd to the north of the site) with asbestos is
the only place where temporary security fencing was NEVER erected. (the places
were it was put up last year happened to be all the areas where extensive tree
felling was envisaged- it appears to have been a health and safety precaution
to keep the public away from dozens of chain saw wielding contractors NOT to
avoid exposed asbestos).

If asbestos contaminated soil is being exposed, put a fence round it-immediately.

Where was this soil supposed to have been exposed? Why didn’t the permanent
security guards see anything? They stay in a car on Woodlands Road doing
17 hour shifts without nearby toilet, washing or refreshment facilities.

Nobody would dispute the need to keep people safe for the few days or weeks
that the asbestos tips are to be exposed on Woodlands Road. Surely, they are
not suggesting that these huge known asbestos tips are to be entirely exposed
and disturbed for many months?

Where does the 18 months timescale come from? Is that when they expect the
planning consent to have been granted and the building work to commence?

It is about time that ALL the facts about this site are investigated and made public.

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STATEMENT ENDS.

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