Residents in a former industrial town in Kirklees, West Yorkshire are uniting to challenge apparent council negligence amid a new private housebuilding project. They argue that the council has failed to protect local people’s health and safety at a site with historic toxic contamination, including from asbestos.

A dangerous housing project in Kirklees

Local people in Cleckheaton, Kirklees, have reported numerous worsening health issues they believe have a connection with the site’s activity, including “a toddler with a blocked lung“. The council could easily expect this, considering there was once an asbestos factory there. But residents have had to pull together extensive evidence themselves over recent months, with tests confirming the presence of “both brown and white asbestos in household dust”. In addition to significant contamination risks, they have found numerous procedural and safety breaches. And they are now demanding an immediate halt to work, while crowdfunding to take legal action.

Labour-led Kirklees Council, which is currently facing community action on a number of fronts for its antidemocratic behaviour, apparently failed to: carry out proper risk assessments; communicate effectively with both site managers and residents; and put necessary measures in place to protect local people. It has also suggested it is reluctant to stop the build over fear of being sued, according to resident campaigners.

This week, local people protested at the site:

A serious public health crisis

The Cleckheaton campaign is not a planning dispute. It’s a real public health crisis. And it seems to reveal either disinterest or incompetence on the part of Kirklees Council, with risk assessments ignoring key hazards and officials either misleading local people, dismissing their legitimate concerns, or failing to clearly present essential information. Residents feel the council has enabled the crisis, while gaslighting them, obstructing freedom of information requests, and offering only vague promises of testing and support. The developer, meanwhile, has been failing to provide the necessary protections, partly because of the council’s failure to step in.

The council has claimed its current monitoring shows no risk to residents. And it has said inspections will increase.

In a press release, local people campaigning for the suspension of construction explained:

The land, once home to chemical works, a foundry, an asbestos factory and an asbestos dumping site, was known to be contaminated. Soil reports showed dangerous substances like asbestos, lead, arsenic, and cyanide, with some levels over five times higher than safety guidance.

It has now emerged that the site’s report omitted the former Stone Street asbestos weaving factory, which processed raw asbestos yarn—leaving the full risk unassessed despite its clear relevance to public health

Now the developer plans to begin pile driving, a deep drilling method that could release even more toxic dust into the air. Residents say they are already seeing and breathing in dust—and they’ve had enough.

Residents reporting “several new asthma cases” along with “worsening chest problems, skin irritation, and eye infections” are now calling for:

• A stop to all construction until safety measures are properly in place
• Independent testing of air and dust
• A review of the safety measures for future residents of these homes, built on a toxic landfill
• A review of the safety measures for existing residents
• A public health investigation

Featured image and additional images supplied

By Ed Sykes

This post was originally published on Canary.