EXCLUSIVE: Asbestos in Crawley school buildings
THREE-QUARTERS of the schools in Crawley are riddled with asbestos, the Observer can reveal.
Only five primary or infant schools in town are free of the substance – which can cause cancer and lung diseases in certain forms – while half of the secondary schools contain the chemical.
The revelation comes after West Sussex County Council provided a list of asbestos-ridden schools following a Freedom of Information request by the Observer.
The county council said it was 'very proactive' about the asbestos and said it is spending 85,000 this year removing it from school and council buildings.
There is no suggestion that children's health is at any risk, but Crawley MP Laura Moffatt said it was a 'serious issue' and that the danger of asbestos came when it is disturbed during building work.
Asbestos was a popular building material from the 1950s to the mid 1980s, and was used extensively in the building of Crawley.
St Wilfrids, Holy Trinity, and Hazelwick School all have asbestos in them.
Of the town's primary and infant schools, only The Brook School, Desmond Anderson Primary, Maidenbower Junior, St Francis of Assisi Primary, and Pound Hill Infant are asbestos-free.
Laura Moffatt said: "We have to take these issues seriously, particularly in Crawley, where most of the building that was undertaken was at a time when asbestos was used frequently."
For the full story pick up a copy of this week's Crawley Observer.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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