Nine out of ten Nottingham city schools still contain potentially lethal asbestos

A list of Nottingham city schools which still contain potentially lethal asbestos has been revealed.

Figures, released by Nottingham City Council last December, show 39 out of the 43 schools it still maintains still have asbestos-containing materials.

And £177,000 has been paid in the last ten years to “less than five” claimants who have developed asbestos-related diseases as a result of exposure during their employment at unnamed Nottingham City schools in the past.

The authority says its tight policies and procedures on managing asbestos mean children and staff are not at risk.

Asbestos is often found in buildings made or refurbished before the year 2000. It was banned from being used as a construction material in 1999, but still kills around 5,000 workers each year.

The material is notoriously expensive and difficult to remove, as it requires workers wearing comprehensive protective clothing. Once identified is often protected, enclosed and left alone provided it is not damaged.

But if its fibres are inhaled it can cause fatal lung conditions and cancer, which often only develop years after exposure.

The Nottingham figures only cover around half the total of city schools – the rest of the schools in the city boundary are academies and under the control of the Department for Education, rather than the council, for which figures were not immediately available.

Asbestos is a cancer and lung hazard, only if it is disturbed.
Asbestos is a cancer and lung hazard, only if it is disturbed.

Susi Artis, an assistant secretary for the Nottingham City branch of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), said: “There’s bound to be asbestos in buildings that were built at a certain time.

“An awful lot of buildings have got asbestos in them, but as long as you don’t disturb it – by doing any kind of alterations – it’s not an issue.”

susi-artis
Susi Artis, assistant secretary of the NUT.

Nottingham City Council says parents and staff do not need to be concerned about asbestos being present in schools – and that “tightly-managed” policies and procedures are in place to ensure pupils and staff are not put risk.

A spokesman for the authority said: “Surveys are undertaken in schools on a regular basis to ensure that asbestos-containing materials are identified and action taken where necessary.

“Schools have to have very, very regular inspections where people come in to each school and they’ll know where the pockets of asbestos are – and that’s where inspectors will concentrate their time. And they will be right on top of anything.

“Any asbestos-containing materials that remain are in a condition and/or location that do not present any health risks.”

Nottingham City Council tax rises loxley house
Loxley House, the headquarters of Nottingham City Council.

In November, Notts TV News revealed the list of 222 Nottinghamshire county schools on the asbestos register.

Around 88 per cent of schools, of the 252 on Nottinghamshire County Council’s books, contain asbestos and, since April 2010, £196,907 has been paid to two out of a total of four claimants who developed asbestos-related diseases as a result of exposure to asbestos during their employment.

Notts County Council
Nottinghamshire County Council, as seen from Trent Bridge. Photo by David Martin

Joanne Gordon, co-ordinator of Derbyshire Asbestos Support, an organisation which works to help people affected by asbestos-related diseases in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, previously said they are regularly seeing ex-teachers who are being diagnosed with Mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is a cancer and can result from low-level exposure to asbestos – it still has no cure.

A policy review published in March 2015 by the Department for Education quotes the Health and Safety Executive view that schools are a low-risk environment for asbestos.

It said schools should be given support and funding to remove asbestos “where appropriate”.


Full list of local authority-maintained schools, built before 2000, containing asbestos in Nottingham city:
Bentinck
Berridge
Cantrell
Carrington
Claremont
Crabtree Farm
Dovecote
Dunkirk (Abbey and Highfields Campus)
Ellis Guilford
Fernwood
Forest Fields
Glade Hill
Greenfields Community School
Haydn
Heathfield
Hempshill Hall (Scotland Road Campus)
Henry Whipple
Melbury
Mellers
Middleton
Rise Park
Robert Shaw
Robin Hood
Rosehill
Rufford
Scotholme
Seely
Snape Wood
South Wilford Endowed CE
Southglade
Southwold
Springfield
Stanstead
Thorneywood Ed Base
Unity/Denewood Learning Centre
Walter Halls
Welbeck
Westbury
Westglade
Whitegate
William Booth
Woodlands

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