Mystery over tyres dumped on asbestos factory land

Tyres dumped at the former Turner Brothers Asbestos (TBA) site

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Tyres have been dumped on the site of the former Turner Brothers Asbestos (TBA) site in the Spodden Valley.

Local residents photographed the piles of used car tyres on Woodland Road, a private access road that once formed part of the huge asbestos processing complex.

The recent tyre dumping has caused anger and suspicion from local people calling for answers as to how such fly tipping could mysteriously occur many hundreds of metres from the nearest public access point for vehicles.

Woodland Road is blocked at the Rooley Moor Road and Dell Road highway points with huge concrete blocks, stone and rubble. The only vehicle access is via the former asbestos factory site itself. Locked steel gates usually block traffic movements. According to previous statements from Rochdale Council, the site has 24 hour security.

However, photographs clearly show heavy traffic movements from the gate area that leads to the closed-off Woodland Road. Locals suggest that the only plausible way such a large amount of tyres could have been fly tipped over the Easter break is via the former TBA site.

Local people remain vigilant and have ongoing suspicions of furtive activity on the site. Rochdale Online has reported on strange banging sounds occurring recently.

The Rochdale Council-led "TBA Project Team" has been informed of the illegal dumping.

Nicola Rogers, Rochdale Borough Council’s public protection service manager, said: “We are currently in discussions with the Environment Agency regarding investigating the tyre dumping at the former TBA site. If an investigation is not required the council will take appropriate action with the site owner.”

The former TBA site, once home to the worlds' first, then largest asbestos textile factories, was sold in 2004 to a Jersey based Company. According to Land Registry files, ownership was later transferred to another offshore company, Renshaw Properties based in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), a tax haven, normally outside the jurisdiction of English courts. BVI company law currently does not require the names of directors and shareholders to be published.