A report in a Gloucestershire newspaper regarding a council tenant who had to wait 18 months for the council to mend her roof, despite the fact that she feared the presence of asbestos would cause health problems for her children, has prompted a comment from a law firm that specialises in asbestos claims.

The case was reported in the Gazette Series of titles and concerned a council house in Stroud which had developed a leaky roof in 2011. The young woman who had lived there with her two children since 2009 reported the matter, and was concerned that the asbestos in the ceiling may have been disturbed by the crumbling of the ceiling, which in turn was caused by a leaking roof.

She was quoted in the local Gazette as saying: “When I first moved into the property I was told by the council that there was some asbestos in the ceiling but unless it was damaged it was at a safe level. This obviously all changed when the ceiling in my hallway started to crumble away because of the damp.”

She continued: “We were left in that damp for 18 months and in that time my daughter…has been diagnosed with asthma and now needs to use an inhaler every day as well as needing steroid shots.”

A spokesperson for Stroud District Council told the newspaper: “A spokesman for Stroud District Council said: "Regrettably it did take us much longer than we would have liked to go out to fix [the] roof and unfortunately when we did it wasn’t straightforward. Our initial attempts to fix the holes in the roof were unsuccessful so we ended up replacing the entire roof covering.”

Regarding the tenant’s asbestos fears, he said: “We advised her that that there was no cause for concern as the textured ceiling coating is classed as very low risk. This type of textured finish is commonplace in tens of thousands of homes across the country.”

Commenting on the case for Asons Solicitors of Bolton, Suzanne Yates said: “Sadly, this is not the first time that we read about Stroud District Council’s bad timing when it comes to asbestos removal from council estates.”

She was referring to a report in the same newspaper in July regarding a delay in removing amosite asbestos from another property in the district.

Concerning the latest report she said: “It is alleged that she had to wait 18 months for the local authority to fully repair the damage. This is unacceptable, particularly when taking into account the risk of asbestos exposure. Awareness needs to be raised, drawing attention to circumstances where the taxpayers’ health is threatened by the negligence of local authorities

“At Asons we deal with asbestos claims on a regular basis. If an individual has been exposed to asbestos and developed a related disease, then they can potentially make a claim for asbestos compensation.”

Pictured: textured coating similar to that used (courtesy HSE)