NEXT week, councillors will be asked to approve plans to hold an inquiry into a scandal which allowed workers at a North-East leisure centre to be exposed to potentially deadly asbestos.

We have already welcomed the proposal to carry out the investigation into why officers took no action in response to official warnings in 2001 that dangerous asbestos had been discovered at Woodhouse Close Leisure Complex in Bishop Auckland.

But when councillors meet to give the inquiry the go-ahead on Wednesday, they will have the option to hold it in private.

We urge them to think very carefully about the way that would be perceived by the public.

Elected representatives have already told of their shock and dismay that they had not been informed about what has been described as one of the worst health and safety breaches in the region. They only learned of the appalling piece of mismanagement when the council was taken to court and fined £18,000 earlier this month.

The complete communication failure at the centre of this sorry saga is bound to fuel suspicions of a cover-up.

Therefore, the only possible route forward from now on is to examine what went on within the council in as open a way as possible.

Those who were so shamefully let down, and who now face a health nightmare for the rest of their lives, deserve nothing less.

The inquiry must be heard in public and the truth must finally be told about who is to blame.