Stockport Council News

The warehousing at the Bredbury former Jackson’s Brickyards, where
they did more investigations 30 years ago than they did for this school in 2006,
is not even directly over the old tipped waste – the new school is directly over
the old tip.

Stockport Council is insisting that all questions regarding this
issue are vexatious, yet they tried to do no contamination investigations,
knowing full well, as Councillor Mark Weldon admitted in the Manchester
Evening News, that the site was likely to be contaminated with brown asbestos.
Councillor Weldon even had a photo-opportunity recently with young children
sitting on the contaminated land whilst he dug the first sod of earth from the
site with a shovel.

I asked Trevor Hough, site manager, for details of his firm’s insurers, as future claims may be made against his company, BAM Construction Ltd, from people living around the site who may well have been exposed to brown asbestos fibres during construction – and it appears from the clip that correct safety procedures were not followed. He has not responded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0rCPnP5H9o

BS 10175 (7.6.2.5), which the Council and Greater Manchester Geological Unit claim to have complied with in their April 2006 investigations, states that a high density of sampling grid can also be necessary where a high level of confidence is required for the outcome of a risk assessment. Presumably, for 550 primary school pupils and 78 babies directly on top of a still gassing former toxic waste dump a high level of confidence would be required. Apparently not!

At a sister Jackson’s Brickyard site at Adswood were 64 boreholes dug and 176 contamination trial pits. Stockport Council’s experts , GMGU, stated at a public inquiry in 2006 that that amount was not enough, at exactly the same time they were saying four trial pits and 11 boreholes was fine for Harcourt Street sister site where the school was going, These are the same experts who said the Harcourt site was safe originally and then were put in charge of further investigations. I have no confidence in their competence.

This is the supposed removal of lethal brown asbestos fibres, even one of which can cause mesothelioma.

Bored “experts” using a bin bag and a stick and one even takes off his own respirator, so he doesn’t understand the serious nature of his task. A builder walks past unprotected:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0rCPnP5H9o

Purely because they were forced for a diversion of public footpath inquiry to prove the footpath wasn’t being diverted into contaminated land, LibDem Stockport Council finally carried out proper contamination investigation, although the toxic soil was piled up in these investigations and shouldn’t have been. At the public inquiry the woman involved, Naomi Harries, said the law had changed meaning the site had to be investigated in a better manner. They had simply thought they could get away with not investigating the site properly previously, and this for a 550 pupil primary school and babies nursery. Greater Manchester Geological Unit was funded by the Greater Manchester Councils.

Naomi Harries, of Greater Manchester Geological Unit, Urban Vision, Salford Council, told a diversion of footpath public inquiry on 06/01/10 that there were changes in legislation which meant that work was done which led to the contamination subsequently being found after she had stated that the school area was safe.

Andrew Webb, Director of Children and Young People’s Department, repeated this claim to local parents. The Council are refusing to say what changes in legislation.

However, better investigations were done in the early 1980s at the sister site which is now Bredbury Industrial Estate than were done in 2006 for a new, primary school and babies nurser.

This is what life is like under the LibDem jackboot.

In 2006 Greater Manchester Geological Unit stated to a public inquiry about the sister Jackson’s Brickyard site at Adswood:- “Where the redevelopment of a closed landfill or nearby land is involved, even the possibility of difficulties from migrating gas would be a material planning consideration.”
It wasn’t for this new school.