Asbestos work on 250 homes

AROUND 250 council homes will have asbestos stripped from them on the Coldhurst Hollow estate.

Tenants will be moved out for a day while the work, which involves heat meter cupboards, is carried out.

The work is due to start any time now, and Hugh Broadbent, Chief Executive of First Choice Homes Oldham, which manages the estate, said tenants have been kept informed by visits, advice and newsletters.

He added: “Heating will need to be turned off for a day and most people will be able to go back into the property at the end of the day.

“Empty properties are being used as a test bed by the contractors before work begins.”

The cupboards used to contain a hot air heating system, but they now have heat meters for radiator systems, and are lined with asbestos.

It follows a Chronicle revelation in August that asbestos has been disturbed by workmen in council houses.

The mineral, the single biggest cause of work-related death, was discovered in 141 homes in Sholver, Coldhurst Hollow and Failsworth.

Any home built or refurbished before 2000 could contain asbestos.

The Chronicle was alerted by someone raising concerns about serious health issues when it is disturbed by workmen.

It is common to find asbestos in properties from the 1960s and 70s in Artex ceilings, floor tiles and fire protection in airing cupboards.

In a similar case Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Phil Woolas has been contacted by a constituent in Higginshaw Village where workmen disturbed asbestos while fitting a new boiler.

The tenant then had an anonymous call claiming the problem was more widespread than tenants were being told. Another reader wrote to the Chronicle to say there are asbestos problems at the Egerton Street flats.

But Mr Broadbent said the asbestos is known about in Higginshaw, because the homes were converted from former maisonettes, which had asbestos firewalls between them.

He added: “The contractor made a mistake and drilled a small hole. This has been resolved and it was just one case.

“Now before we go doing work (as in Egerton Street) we go in in advance and do a survey of properties to find out where asbestos is.

“Then everyone will know where it is, and whether it can be left in situ by working around it, which is the most common thing to do.”