Health hazard fear (From Penarth Times)

Health hazard fear

PENARTH building work has gone ahead, despite protests from concerned local residents. Architectural consultants, W S Atkins, were given planning permission to develop a site on Coronation Road into a set of apartments, after originally being denied it.

Carol Warren, who lives next to the new development, recently protested against any work being done.

She complained that asbestos roofing on the existing garages could pose health hazards to local people if tampered with.

But builders contracted to carry out the work last week went ahead and demolished the garages anyway, saying that they were just "tidying up."

"I rang up the Vale of Glamorgan Environmental Safety office as soon as they began to take the roofs down," the sixty-year-old said.

"They said they didn't know anything about it. "They just said that it "should" be all right, but the problem is, "should" is not good enough when people's health is involved.

"There are children living around here, and there is even a primary school nearby." Builders are supposed to wet asbestos roofing before taking it down, to control the spread of toxic dust, but Mrs Warren says that on this occasion they were left dry.

"The builders were wearing masks to protect themselves, and they didn't even tell us it was going to happen," she said.

"At the very least, they could have let us know when they were going to start, so we could have closed the windows.

"They just steam-rollered in as if to say 'we're doing it anyway: hard luck!'" Now the asbestos has gone, Mrs Warren remains concerned about a street light and telegraph pole in front of the garages, which she says are not incorporated into the architect's plans.

"I'm very distressed about the way this has been handled," she continued. "The only reason the building is being built there is because of the view. It will be a total eyesore."