Health hazard: Sutton Council allowed a fly-tipped pile of builders’ waste, thought to include toxic asbestos, to fester on a pavement near a business park for around three weeks
Sutton Council criticised for a ‘disgraceful’ failure to allow a fly-tipped pile of asbestos to disintegrate on a public road for around three weeks.
CARL SHILTON reports
A four-tonne pile of hazardous waste, including large amounts of asbestos roofing panelling, has finally been removed from Endeavour Way, Beddington, but only after Sutton Council’s chief executive, Helen Bailey, was threatened with personal legal action by a concerned local businessman.
The toxic fly-tip had been left on the pavement at the side of the road, near an industrial estate, for as long as three weeks. According to sources at Sutton Council, there is even a CCTV recording of the criminal fly-tipping.
Some reports suggest that the pile of building materials had been dumped on the public highway, just off Therapia Lane, by someone using a horse and cart – though Sutton officials said that they had been unable to trace the offenders.
“That’s horse shit,” said one concerned local, pointing to a pile of the tell-tale clue that had been left lying in the street.
“They could have followed the trail all the way back to where the asbestos came from,” the source said.
Legal threat: prompt action occurred only after Sutton CEO Helen Bailey was warned about the personal consequences to her
Despite repeated calls to the council and pleas from Beddington ward councillors Nick Mattey and Tim Foster, Sutton Council did nothing to deal with the dumped waste.
Sutton Council uses the same rubbish contractors, Veolia, as are employed by Croydon, despite having sacked them in 2023 for being unreliable and failing in their work.
On Thursday morning, Steve Hoad, the managing director of Hydro-Cleansing Ltd, based on nearby Beddington Farm Road, delivered a written threat of legal action, naming Bailey, Sutton’s £230,000 per year CEO.
Hoad’s email accused Bailey and the LibDem-controlled council of “connivance in asbestos hazard”.
In his letter, Hoad said: “I am writing to formally raise an urgent public health and safety concern regarding the presence of suspected asbestos-containing material which has been illegally deposited on the public highway at Endeavour Way, Beddington.
“This material has reportedly remained in situ for approximately three weeks without removal, contalnment, or public warning.
“The debris is located within the jurisdiction of the London Borough of Sutton and has been repeatedly driven over by vehicles during this period. Such activity significantly increases the risk of asbestos fibres becoming airborne, particularly if the material is chrysotile or amphibole asbestos in a friable state.
“As you will be aware, inhalation of asbestos fibres is directly associated with serious and often fatal diseases, including mesothelioma, asbestosis and asbestos-related lung cancer. The Health and Safety Executive confirms there is no safe level of exposure and that the statutory control limit is not a level below which risks can be disregarded.”
Hoad complained that Bailey and the council had ignored “multiple formal notifications and escalating evidence of airborne contamination caused by traffic disturbing the material”.
Hoad said: “We consider this an egregious breach of statutory duty, with deliberate harm to human life now at the centre of our claim.”
‘Disgraceful’: Councillor Nick Mattey has been critical of Sutton Council
And he added: “Should no action be forthcoming, I will have no alternative but to refer this matter to the Health and Safety Executive, the Environment Agency and the local press.”
Then, as if by magic, once Bailey’s own neck was on the line, the asbestos roofing suddenly vanished within less than a day.
Mattey, the independent councillor for Beddington, has described the council’s lack of urgency as “disgraceful” and “totally unacceptable”.
“The council is more than happy to collect around £16.5million a year in business rates from businesses in this area, yet it shows no willingness to give anything back in return,” Mattey said.
“While the council is quick to issue demands for business rates, it is apparently content to leave a major source of carcinogenic material lying in a public area.
“This is not only a matter of environmental health – it is a matter of public safety and moral responsibility. Allowing a serious health hazard like this to remain untouched is scandalous.”
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We had asbestos dumped in Oaks Lane with a lot of other rubbish, and a previous trailer load of green pruning materials . The matter was reported to a councillor and to the council. After some five weeks much but not all of the rubbish was moved, further weeks passed and then the large sheets of asbestos were removed, but not the smaller broken bits. The person removing the asbestos said that was not his job and that the council would receive a report detailing what remain. What with people moving the stuff so that they could reach the backs of their properties and cars churning it up, it is lost to sight. One imagines the small particles ground up are the most dangerous!. The trailer load of dumped green pruning remains, nicely dried out, and inviting someone to set fire to them,taking with them the row of pines and the dead fallen branches which lie about.
Nobody should be surprised by bailey’s inaction. It’s like the lights are on, but nobody is at home. Next time, they should complain to tim martin, the council’s legal counsel, but having experience of both of them, I can’t quite decide who is worse.
Also, bailey was personally told nearly 10 months ago to switch off various lights which were on even in broad daylight, i.e. 24/7/365, in central Sutton, including right outside the Sutton council’s offices, but it seems they are even too thick to notice that as well.