A LOCAL AND NATIONAL SCANDAL: 90% of Lancashire schools contain asbestos

Teaching leaders claim lives are being put at risk after it was revealed that more than 90 per cent of Lancashire schools contain asbestos.

By The Newsroom

Published 18th Mar 2015, 06:19 BST

More than half of those, 57 per cent, are in Central Lancashire.

The main teaching unions are calling for urgent action after it was revealed that the county has one of the highest density of schools with asbestos in the country. County health and safety officer Ian Watkinson, pictured, branded the figures “a scandal on a local and national scale.”

Asbestos was widely used as a building material in the 1960s and ‘70s and banned in the UK in 1999 once the health risks became apparent. A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said asbestos could be managed safely if left undisturbed, but the latest findings have led to renewed calls to make schools safer.

Lancashire County Council has come under fire after unions accused it of delaying plans to submit a report, which would effectively commit to re-surveying every school.