Local residents of an old bingo hall that was burnt out three months ago by vandals are said to be up in arms over asbestos being found in the building as they fear that the deadly dust could be polluting their street. The East Renfrewshire council have now admitted that asbestos was discovered in the building; therefore they have now condemned it and ordered it to be demolished. The old bingo hall is located on Cross Arthurile St, in Barrhead, Glasgow and it first started life of as a cinema in the 1930,s and was then turned into a bingo hall back in 1970, but is has been closed down for some time.

Barrnhead news have reported that local residents are slamming their local council for not alerting them to the risk of asbestos exposure that they might be facing. A spokesman for the East Renfrewshire council, tried to calm people’s fears and had this to say on the subject!

“After the building was set alight it was discovered that there is asbestos cement on the roof. “We have hired specialist contractors who deal with asbestos and will demolish the building. The workforce gave a complete statement to the council detailing exactly how they plan to remove the asbestos. Taking the building down is a difficult job because the bingo hall is large and we want to demolish the building with minimum disruption to residents off the street. The contractors are taking the building down in stages starting with the rear of the building then moving on to the front. The building does not pose any danger to residents of Cross Arthurlie Street.”

Asbestos has been called “The Hidden Killer” in the past and it is said that tradesman who do not know what they are dealing with are most at risk and this is why a national campaign on this subject will be starting in October 2008.

It  only came to light that the old bingo hall had asbestos in it when construction workers discovered it after the fire, but it does seem like the local council have been aware of this for some time, so it is no wonder that local residents are feeling aggrieved for not being informed of the presence of asbestos on their street by the council.