Brent Green Party in an open letter to Carolyn Downs, Brent Council Chief Executive, has posed questions about the contaminated waste at Paddington Green Cemetery:
OPEN Letter to CEO London Borough of Brent, Councillor Butt,
Councillor Southwood cc Councillor Duffy
As Green
Party Trade Union Liaison Officer for Brent and for the London
Federation of Green Parties, and as a council tax paying resident of the
London Borough of Brent, I am very concerned to hear from Councillor
Duffy’s email, that there are contamination problems arising from the
dumping and disposal of asbestos contaminated soil in Paddington Old
Cemetery.
As I am sure the CEO of Brent and the Brent Councillors dealing with this matter, are aware asbestos is relatively safe when
undisturbed, but if it is caused to give off dust, which is harmful if
inhaled, that dust can give rise to severe health problems which may not
be apparent until years later.
I would
therefore like assurances that the Council did not deliberately send
asbestos contaminated waste to Paddington Old Cemetery, and that once
Council became aware of the presence of such waste, it ensured that:
1. all
workers dealing with the waste were fully briefed as to its potentially
hazardous nature and advised to inform their GPs of possible exposure.
2. all workers dealing with the waste were fully equipped with appropriate protection
3.
measures were taken to ensure that the waste would affect members of the
public visiting the Cemetery and the students and staff of the school
which neighbours the Cemetery.
4. the
school and the NEU Health and Safety representative was notified of the
presence of the waste and warned when it was likely to be disturbed.
Yours sincerely Peter Murry
