Labour-led Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire is facing community action on a number of fronts for its antidemocratic behaviour. But perhaps most shockingly, it has been allowing private housing developers to cause a public health crisis by cutting corners on the site of a former asbestos factory. Then, on top of that, it’s been gaslighting the people suffering, with local resident Tracy Whiteman calling its behaviour “dismissive, disingenuous, duplicitous”.

Labour letting developers cut corners at the cost of public health

As the Canary previously reported, apparent council negligence and stubborn resistance have left residents in the former industrial town of Cleckheaton dealing with asbestos, arsenic, lead and cyanide contamination that has already resulted in negative health impacts. Local people simply want the council and developers to stop the work until proper safety measures are in place.

Whiteman has been helping to raise awareness of the crisis, and she spoke to the Canary. Referring to cases like Grenfell Tower, she insisted:

We can’t keep having situations like this, where we’re allowing corners to be cut.

She added:

It’s really difficult for an area that’s not particularly affluent to stop the damage from happening. It’s really, really easy in today’s society to sue them once they’ve hurt you. It would be easier for us to just be quiet, say nothing, and end up with health implications or whatever else, and for them to just claim off their insurance – you know, like, ‘here’s a couple of hundred thousand or whatever, just go away’. Why is it so hard to stop them from causing the damage in the first place when you know fine well that they are causing you damage?

And she stressed:

Money doesn’t mean zilch if you’re sick and you’re dead.

“The council’s complicit”, she asserted, and she suspects there’s a “cover-up” too.

Cleckheaton Against Harmful Development will hold a public meeting on 14 September to increase awareness of the issue. You can see more about how to support the campaign here.

Featured image via the Canary

By Ed Sykes

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