Classroom asbestos fear

MORE than 310 council buildings across Oldham are known to contain deadly asbestos, an MP has revealed.

The shocking revelations came to light after a series of Freedom of Information requests by Rochdale’s Lib-Dem MP Paul Rowen. And Mr Rowen found large numbers of schools across Greater Manchester have traces of asbestos.

Mr Rowen said: “A full audit of school premises is supposed to be taking place as part of the Building Schools for the Future Programme yet some councils could not tell me how many of their public buildings contained asbestos.

“The presence of asbestos in schools should be at the top of all councils’ agendas. I am calling for an increase in staff dedicated to asbestos monitoring, especially in schools.”

It is thought about 13,000 of the country’s 25,000 schools were built between 1945 and 1974 when asbestos use in ceilings, wall linings and pipe lagging was at its highest.

Oldham Council said it employs The Unity Partnership to actively manage asbestos on its behalf and an asbestos manager is employed.