North Warwickshire Borough Council has been fined £10,000 after workers were exposed to potentially-deadly asbestos fibres.

The local authority was taken to court for not carrying out proper procedures for asbestos removal during the refurbishment of a community centre in Fillongley, carried out by contractors from Birmingham.

Magistrates were told that asbestos should have been removed under controlled conditions by a licensed contractor. Instead it was spread around the site by the decorating firm’s staff.

The matter came to light when other tradesmen on the site realised what was happening and reported the situation to managers, which led to a visit from the Health and Safety Executive.

A subsequent investigation revealed the council had undertaken a survey detailing the presence of asbestos but had failed to pass information on to Intal Decorators. The firm had also failed to carry out its own assessment of the insulation boards to check whether asbestos was present.

The borough council pleaded guilty before Leamington magistrates to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £10,000, with £1,200 costs.

Intal Decorators, of Rough Road, Birmingham, admitted removing asbestos-containing materials without carrying out an assessment and was fined £5,000, with £500 costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Paul Cooper said: “Refurbishment and demolition work must be planned and carefully thought through, especially where asbestos may be present.

"It is reasonable to expect North Warwickshire Borough Council to have planned its work in such a way that workers were not put at risk of exposure to this deadly material.”

Council assistant chief executive Steve Maxey said: “We take health and safety issues extremely seriously, so we have listened to advice from the HSE and reviewed our processes to ensure that these regrettable circumstances never arise in the future.”

Council leader  Mick Stanley said: “It is extremely disappointing that the council has fallen below its high standards on this occasion. I have asked for a full report to come to the special sub-committee, explaining the details of the offence and the procedures put in place to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

“The public needs to be assured that the council has learned from this.”