Thousands of public buildings in the largest cities and areas of Britain still contain cancer-causing asbestos - but it is not clear how many are in Bristol. Bristol City Council was one of two large local authorities who failed to respond to a mass Freedom of Information request from one of the country’s leading law firm on the issue.
Workplace illness lawyers Irwin Mitchell, who have successfully won compensation for dozens of families of people killed by asbestos, issued a Freedom of Information request to 20 of the largest local authorities in the UK, asking how many publicly-owned buildings still had dangerous asbestos in them, after the Government rejected a plan to get councils to remove it.
Irwin Mitchell’s request went to local authorities from Glasgow to Cornwall, and 18 of the 20 responded, revealing that, across those 18, more than 4,500 public buildings still contain asbestos. Experts estimate that, across the country, there could be as many as 87,000 public buildings containing asbestos - many of them schools, libraries and community centres.
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In April 2022, MPs recommended a 40-year deadline be set on local councils for the removal of asbestos from the estimated 300,000 public and commercial buildings that still contain it. However, the report from the Work and Pensions Committee was rejected by the government.
“Most people associate asbestos with historical exposure in factories or construction work, but these latest figures highlight the extensive risk still posed by the deadly substance across the UK in everyday buildings used by the public,” said Adrian Budgen, a leading specialist asbestos-related disease lawyer at Irwin Mitchell.
“At Irwin Mitchell, sadly, we come across families and individuals affected by asbestos most often after coming into contact with it in their workplace, and to have it confirmed that it’s not yet been eradicated from a large number of public buildings is incredibly concerning,” he added.
The responses to the FoI show an average of around 225 public buildings with asbestos per local authority. Schools are the largest category of buildings affected, making up almost a quarter of the total number. This is followed by the likes of community centres, agricultural and park buildings, office space, libraries, leisure facilities and residential settings.
“One of the main problem areas is revealed to be schools, which are obviously densely populated with pupils, teachers and other school workers for long hours at a time. It’s extremely worrying that so many still contain asbestos, essentially putting children at risk every day,” added Mr Budgen.
“Whilst some of the asbestos may not yet be deemed harmful, once it’s disturbed or in a state of disrepair it can quickly become very dangerous, and with many of our public buildings being old and maintenance budgets being stretched, it’s a huge concern,” he added.
“The data collated from our FOI requests demonstrate that asbestos remains a clear and present danger. It was therefore deeply disappointing that the call put forward last April, for a 40-year deadline for its removal, was rejected. While we understand the logistical and financial scale of the challenge of removing it safely, it’s inherently dangerous and simply can’t be left in situ,” he added.
The figures also show that only 291 buildings across the 20 local authorities in question had asbestos removed from them in the last five years, but that 3,263 had had a survey undertaken within the same timeframe. Removal is not happening fast enough, say Irwin Mitchell.
“We’ve known the dangers of asbestos for several decades now, with its use outlawed for more than 20 years, yet there’s still an ongoing debate around whether to remove it from our schools. It’s also very concerning that our estimations suggest that the 40 year deadline previously recommended wouldn’t be enough time for all removals to be undertaken given the current pace.
“More needs to be done to help protect people and we call on the Government to approve the recommendations of the Select Committee Report, accelerate the removal process and ensure asbestos is extracted from all public buildings within the given timeframe – or preferably sooner,” he said.
Bristol Live contacted Bristol City Council about the issue of asbestos in public buildings and why it failed to respond to the FOI, and is awaiting a response. Back in 2019, the council's housing chiefs said they were getting on top of 'the monster' that is the amount of asbestos in homes and council buildings in the city.
An action plan was launched in September 2018. "We have 28,000 homes that we manage across Bristol and many of them contain asbestos in various forms because of the nature of when and how they were built, so it's an ongoing risk for us to manage," the then head of service for planned maintenance Gillian Durden said back in 2019.
"An action plan was agreed. It is being actively monitored. We are pretty much there with most of the actions," she added. Councillors were debating it in 2019 because of the number of accidental exposures to asbestos in public buildings.
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