Council to clean up asbestos contamination in Byron Bay rail corridor

Published on 15 November 2018

From the week starting 26 November 2018 Byron Shire Council will be cleaning up a section of contaminated soil in the Byron rail corridor.

The small area of contamination sits between Butler Street and the disused railway line slightly south of the Butler Street drain.

The contamination was discovered when Council was undertaking due diligence prior to securing a licence with Transport for NSW over the rail corridor.

Phil Holloway, Director Infrastructure Services, said that as part of the preliminary assessment of the site a small area of soil that was contaminated with asbestos was discovered.

“It’s important that the community knows that this contamination is isolated and is currently beneath the surface of the soil and does not pose an immediate health risk, however when we were granted the licence in February 2018, one of our priorities was to clean up the area up as soon as possible,” Mr Holloway said.

“Independent consultants were engaged to test the site for contamination and an Asbestos Management Plan has been developed as a result of the findings.

“We have engaged fully licenced experienced contractors to physically remove the asbestos under the direction of an expert land contamination consultant, and the project area will be completely fenced off and controlled during the works.

“There are strict laws and guidelines for the removal of asbestos and I assure the public that there will be no threat to public health during the remediation process,” he said.

Neighbours in the vicinity of the contaminated area are being directly informed of the remediation process which is expected to take approximately one week to complete.

Once the contamination has been removed, Council will be looking at formalising the informal crossing of the rail corridor from the Butler Street Reserve to the town centre.

For more information call Annie Lewis, Media and Communications Coordinator on 6626 7320.