Possibly dangerous flytip - what to be done?

[dino99]

I've noticed a stack of shed/roofing tiles on the pavement. These are on Melbourne Grove, just a few meters south of the intersection with East Dulwich Grove.

I've been thinking that they look like asbestos tiles. My suspicion was somewhat confirmed as Southwark appears to have put an Environmental Crime sticker on them and spray painted a yellow X. But other than that, they've now been sitting there for 3 weeks, and the council hasn't done anything else.

[ianr]

I was curious about the sticker, but no more than to snap it. I hadn't thought of them as dangerous, btw.

[JohnL]

I suppose Asbestos isn't dangerous unless it's broken up etc.

Probably a specialist team required to remove though (maybe they use the city of london hazardous waste removal)

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/bins-and-recycling/general-household-waste/hazardous-waste

[Burbage]

dino99 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> But other than that, they've now been sitting

> there for 3 weeks, and the council hasn't done

> anything else.

What evidence have you that the council's doing nothing?

First, it's hazardous waste, and the council won't have the skills or expertise to deal with it. Moreover, even if they could, there's probably something buried in the secret contract with Veolia saying that they can't. Veolia, of course, do have the skills and expertise, but their contract with the council probably won't cover handling hazardous waste. Therefore, to move this stuff, the council would have to get their lawyers to ask Veolia's lawyers if it's alright for them to prepare a tender document for the job, preparatory to launching a bidding process for such a tender. That's unlikely to be very quick.

Second, it's clearly marked as the scene of an environmental crime. As far as I know, it's a offence for even a council to knowingly tamper with any evidence that may be required for an investigation or prosecution, and so, before any of the strategic work involved in preparing for the removal of the tiles can be started, the police will have to be approached for their explicit consent. Which may take some time, depending on the priority given to the investigation and whether the police themselves need to make preparations for securing the evidence along the lines above. In either case, that's entirely outside the council's control.

Thirdly, although a temporary tactical containment strategy might seem an obvious first response, that's not necessarily the case. Any sort of cover or cabinet would need to be securely installed, to avoid it becoming a trip hazard in itself, and that would require an appropriate design brief to be drawn up, suppliers invited to bid, the proposals independently assessed, cost-benefit analyses run, consultations carried out, risk assessments drafted, planning permission gained and traffic management orders sought. None of that is quick, either.

Three weeks is a ridiculously short time for any of the above to be even started, let alone completed. It takes four years to make a zebra crossing, and that's just half a lick of paint, so let's have a less of this instant-gratification foot-stamping. I'm sure you have the best of motives but, after all, it's only a few asbestos tiles, and won't kill any of the children that play with them for whatever's left of their lifetimes.

[first mate]

These do look broken up in places.

[ianr]

I suspect the labelling is more in line with this model: http://www.brightonandhoveindependent.co.uk/news/environment/council-to-cordon-off-environmental-crime-scenes-in-fight-against-flytipping-1-7855012.

[rch]

The pile is gone today. I also photographed it and have been keeping my eye on it as well, as I walk along there regularly.

I saw some Veolia guys in a van nearby yesterday and asked them if they could get it removed and they confirmed that it was indeed asbestos and told me not to touch it, that it needed a special procedure.

So, I don't know if they subsequently reported it and the removal was therefore escalated or whether the paperwork, etc, was completed coincidentally... but thankfully it's gone now.

Nice to know that other people are keeping their eye out around here, too.

[stringvest]

In the 1970s I used to play in a disused river wharf, you could go down some wood and poles into old underground petrol storage tanks, there used to be loads of that corrugated asbestos stuff, we used to make little camps out of it when we weren't jumping on the stuff.

[hammerman]

My mum was a cook/dinner lady at a Southwark secondary school in the mid/late 1970s when she and her colleagues were confronted with people in spacesuit type outfits walking around the kitchen area! They were looking for asbestos but didn't care about the staff.

[hammerman]

I remember her telling me they had square helmet type things on too!