OFFICIALS have finally ordered an inquiry into why staff at a council-run leisure complex were exposed to dangerous asbestos for five years despite a report warning of the danger.

Staff at Woodhouse Close leisure complex, in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, were exposed to the substance - which can cause lung cancer - until January last year, even though inspectors found asbestos as long ago as 2001.

Wear Valley District Council ignored expert reports that said staff were working unprotected with toxic materials, and did nothing to remove it.

Last month, a court fined the authority £18,000 after it admitted six serious breaches of health and safety regulations - described by Government inspectors as some of the worst ever seen in the region.

Richard Bishop, who led the investigation on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said the case was the worst health and safety breach he had seen.

The Northern Echo has learned that the authority's chief executive, Michael Laing, is to arrange a meeting of the full council next week that will press for an inquiry.

And the chairman of the council's community services committee, Councillor David Kingston, is compiling a timeline detailing what happened between 2001 and the present day, to be presented to councillors on October 17.

An official statement released yesterday said: "Wear Valley District Council has publicly apologised to workers at the leisure centre and all council staff.

"We deeply regret the breaches of health and safety regulations for which we have taken full responsibility. We are continuing to work with anyone concerned and to monitor them."

A member of staff, who had been working full time in the leisure centre's boiler room, first reported the council to the HSE in January last year, when he discovered his bosses had been told about asbestos in the room five years earlier.

Nothing was done to make the room safe, and an unknown number of workers and contractors were allowed to continue their activities unprotected.

The statement adds: "The survey, which was carried out in 2001, was a regular survey for asbestos, which would determine if it was present.

"In some cases, if asbestos is found and is in good condition, it would be left undisturbed and then monitored and managed, rather than removed at that point in time.

"As an authority, we have accepted responsibility for the situation and we have worked openly and honestly in collaboration with the HSE to take all the remedial action we have been advised to.

"Chief executive Michael Laing is to ask councillors on October 3 to agree to an inquiry carried out by the health and safety panel into the events in 2001 surrounding the handling of the report.

"Therefore, any further comments would be inappropriate until the inquiry is completed."

Coun Kingston, the Labour member for Willington, said yesterday: "The next meeting of the full council is the right time to report what we have found out since.

"That is the correct forum in which to comment on what happened. I still want to know exactly what happened when and where, and who did what and who said what. Some members of staff have left the council within a year or two of this happening.

"The current bunch of officers have got to get through a paper trail to see what happened.

"That needs a bit of time to get together."

Calls are growing for the officers who were in charge at the time to be named.

Derek Jago, the former leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition, said yesterday: "Whoever was responsible for this should be named.

"The people of Wear Valley are having to pay the £18,000 fine. I don't see why the rate payers should suffer."