Thousands of public buildings in the largest cities and areas of Britain still contain cancer-causing asbestos - but it is not clear how many are in Bristol. Bristol City Council was one of two large local authorities who failed to respond to a mass Freedom of Information request from one of the country’s leading law firm on the issue.
Workplace illness lawyers Irwin Mitchell, who have successfully won compensation for dozens of families of people killed by asbestos, issued a Freedom of Information request to 20 of the largest local authorities in the UK, asking how many publicly-owned buildings still had dangerous asbestos in them, after the Government rejected a plan to get councils to remove it.
Irwin Mitchell’s request went to local authorities from Glasgow to Cornwall, and 18 of the 20 responded, revealing that, across those 18, more than 4,500 public buildings still contain asbestos. Experts estimate that, across the country, there could be as many as 87,000 public buildings containing asbestos - many of them schools, libraries and community centres.
