Fears after asbestos dumped in Darwen (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Fears after asbestos dumped in Darwen

10:15am Friday 31st October 2008 in

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ASBESTOS has been dumped in a Tockholes beauty spot.

A warden employed by Tockholes Parish Council to pick up litter and look out for fly-tipping came across four sheets of the dangerous material in a layby off Tockholes Road earlier this week.

He recognised the white asbestos material, possibly from a garage, as dangerous and asked Blackburn with Darwen Council to remove it.

Geraldine Foster, clerk of Tockholes Parish Council said: “It’s worrying. At the moment we are getting a lot of fly-tipping in the area.

“We haved asked the council to remove it, but they are trying to establish who the land belongs to.

“We urge everyone to look out for fly tippers and report anything suspicious to the police.”

Asbestos was extensively used as a building material in the UK from the 1950s through to the mid-1980s. Asbestos materials in good condition are safe unless asbestos fibres become airborne, which happ-ens when materials are damaged.

When these fibres are inhaled they can cause serious diseases which are responsible for around 4,000 deaths a year.

It is illegal to dump asbestos in anything other than licensed sites.

Coun Colin Rigby, who represents North Turton with Tockholes, said: “Fly-tipping is a constant problem. Tyres are something people seem to want to dump, but asbestos is potentially quite dangerous.”