Fury over asbestos verdict mystery

7:47am Friday 18th April 2008

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MYSTERY surrounds the result of an inquiry set up to find out who was responsible for one of the region's worst health and safety breaches.

Wear Valley District Council bosses ignored official warnings by asbestos inspectors and allowed staff at a Bishop Auckland swimming pool to work with the toxic material for five years.

After months of investigations, members of an inquiry team set up to find out why the lives of workers at Woodhouse Close Leisure Centre were put at risk, were due to sign off their final report on Wednesday.

But The Northern Echo understands that four councillors on the seven-strong committee have blocked the release of the report.

Panel members have been instructed to make no comment to the press, and the council has refused to release contact details for the independent chairman of the inquiry, Peter Kemp.

The council was fined £18,000 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) last year for failing to deal with asbestos found in the pool's boiler room - even though inspectors warned them about the health risk in 2001.

The breach only came to light five years later when a worker contacted the HSE after learning that bosses ignored the report.

Rumours surfaced on Monday that councillors had been asked to delay the release of the report so that solicitors could be given more time to consider the legal implications of naming people involved in the scandal.

Once the report is signed off, it will go before an extraordinary meeting of the council, before being published.

The authority's departing chief executive, Michael Laing, has instructed members to release the report's findings before he leaves his post at the end of the month.

He said last night: "Out of the seven inquiry team members, excluding the chairman, three have replied. The other four have declined.

My advice is that this report should be given to the council as soon as possible."

Robert Batie, who was a maintenance worker at the leisure centre until 2003, said: "This comes as a real shock - if the report is ready it should be published straightaway.

"I'm lost for words - but what can I do about it? I am sick of waiting for this report.

"We need to find out who was responsible for what happened because these people might have moved on to other jobs at other councils. What is to stop them doing the same thing again?"