Asbestos at St. Mary’s School

St. Mary’s Primary School, Walthamstow, and asbestos: the final verdict (1)

The Waltham Forest Guardian‘s Tom Barnes has just filed an online story reporting that, following a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE),  Balfour Beatty Regional Construction, NPS London Ltd., and Squibb Group Ltd. today have been fined in all over £1m. for breaking various safety regulations in connection with the removal of asbestos at St Mary’s Church of England Primary School in Walthamstow during 2012. I first found out about events at St Mary’s when I was investigating the fiasco surrounding the treatment of asbestos in the Town Hall (see refere... »

Selwyn Primary School, Highams Park: demolish in haste, repent at leisure?

A local resident writes as follows:   ‘Waltham Forest Council (hereafter LBWF) wants to demolish Selwyn Primary School in Highams Park and replace it with a modular building block of the same capacity. Executive head teacher Maureen Okoye appears to be spearheading the plans. Shortly after she took over running Selwyn there were allegations that she had a “dictatorial” style, and treated staff “unfairly”. Eventually, 12 teachers resigned in unison, leading Ms. Okoye to comment (in what must be one of the understatements of the year): “when you introduce new ideas there will be a bi... »

Asbestos matters again: St. Mary’s School, Walthamstow

A quick visit to the Health and Safety Executive’s website reveals that LBWF has form on asbestos – see here: http://www.hse.gov.uk/notices/breach/breach_list.asp?PN=1&ST=B&SN=F&EO=%3D&SF=RID&SV=1257558&SO=ANBID Some of the episodes have attracted significant comment, too, for example here: http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/wfnews/8331074.WALTHAM_FOREST__Union_slams_council_over_safety_rap/ More recently, NPS London Ltd (NPSL) and LBWF have commissioned their own investigations into events at St. Mary’s School, Walthamstow, and these merit some scrutiny. What has em... »

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