Asbestos store is given go-ahead

There has been opposition to the asbestos store

A controversial plan for an asbestos storage facility in County Antrim has been approved by Environment Minister Angela Smith.

She said there were no environmental reasons to withhold permission for the facility at Crosshill Quarry, Crumlin.

She said "disproportionate and unnecessary fears have been aroused".

Ms Smith said monitoring would ensure there was no danger to nearby residents, who had opposed the plan, "from water, land or air".

"I know that concerns have been expressed about this site and that is understandable," she said.

Railway carriages

Ms Smith said scientific investigations concluded there were no significant residual risks associated with the historical deposit of redundant railway carriages on the site.

There has been considerable local opposition to the plan by Eastwoods Ltd.

Alliance Party leader David Ford said that campaigners had not "had full disclosure of documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act".

"It is unfair that the minister's decision was taken while local people don't have the full story," Mr Ford said.

He said the Department of Environment should have more time to examine the issue more thoroughly and to take local opinion into consideration.

SDLP assembly member for the area Thomas Burns accused the NIO of dismissing "the well-founded concerns of the residents of Crumlin".

"They feel she has put at risk their health, and the health of their children and future grandchildren," Mr Burns said.

The proposal will see double bagged asbestos being transported from its removal site to Crosshill, where it will be stored in steel containers awaiting movement for final disposal.

Soil sampling by the Environment Heritage Service (EHS) indicated a very low presence of asbestos at one location of the quarry, presenting no significant risk, but the EHS has instructed the company to seal this part of the site.