Anger boils over in asbestos country

By Nick Perry

Fifteen angry Flat Bush home-owners plan to sue the Manukau City Council over its handling of an asbestos investigation.

The group say they have lost tens of thousands of dollars from their property values as a result of being within a council-identified asbestos zone.

They say the council knew the area was contaminated at least 18 months before it tagged their properties.

Flat Bush resident Rosemary Godwin said that in 1997 the council found a nearby subdivision littered with asbestos. Yet a black mark was put against a land information memorandum on her property only last month.

Mrs Godwin said she and her husband would not have bought their $250,000 house last year if they had known of the asbestos. They had intended to retire to a place by the seaside, but were now stuck.

"I feel like I am trapped here, like the rest of my life has already been decided."

A land agent had told her he "wouldn't touch her house with a barge-pole." She said hundreds of Flat Bush home-owners were in a similar situation, and urged them to join the group in a class action.

Another resident, Paul Jennings, said he and his fiancee had hoped to move to Brisbane, but they could not sell. He had already left his job, and now their lives were up in the air.

Last night the council environmental policy manager, Ree Anderson, said it had become aware in 1997 that there could be widespread problems with asbestos, and had investigated straight away. It had tried to be pro-active since.

A report was prepared last year, followed by a soil-sampling investigation.

Advice from other authorities had prompted it to tag LIM reports in the area last month.

Paul Cavanagh, QC, said he had been informally approached about taking the case.

Although he had not seen details, he felt residents might have some basis for a claim.

Manukau East MP Ross Robertson said many land-owners had bought in good faith knowing nothing of the asbestos problem. He was pushing for a Government inquiry.

"We need to get to the bottom of this. We need to find who is responsible, and what they should be doing to recompense people."

Asbestos was used by farmers in Flat Bush from the 1940s for drainage and fill.
Council files show that in 1963 Mr Cavanagh took an unsuccessful case against the Manukau County Council over asbestos dumping by local carrier Fred "Westie" Thomas.

A chartered accountant and his wife were distressed their 4ha lifestyle block was covered in asbestos, and they wanted it removed. But local farmers supported Mr Thomas.

In 1992 the Auckland Area Health Board discovered sacks of the potentially deadly blue asbestos buried at a Thomas Rd address. The asbestos was re-buried on farmland.

Then in 1997, asbestos pipes and fittings were found in a 40-section development in Hilltop Park. The asbestos was re-buried by contractors wearing protective clothing.

The council has appealed to environmental agencies for financial assistance with further investigations - so far without success.

Ree Anderson said it had told neighbouring councils they, too, could have a problem with asbestos, after it was revealed that Mr Thomas had dumped the substance far and wide.