THE CITY of Newcastle will start a "mowing trial" in Islington Park on Tuesday, despite residents' concerns about the cutting potentially spreading asbestos particles.
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The council reopened the park on March 14, after independent assessors issued a clearance certificate following cleaning, air monitoring and soil testing.
The council distributed flyers over the weekend telling residents that crews had been "conducting visual inspections and ongoing cleaning on a daily basis due to recontamination at the park" and that "occasional fragments" re-introduced by vehicles or falling from trees should be reported to the EPA.
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It said crews would "conduct a mowing trial" of the park's sports oval on Tuesday, "to ensure mowing can safely be conducted from a staff and community perspective".
The oval and surrounding area will be taped off.
"Prior to the trial commencing, a walk-through will take place with licenced asbestos removalists to identify and remove any visible fragments of asbestos materials in the area to be mowed," the council flyer said.
"Catchers will be used on mowing equipment and all clippings will be safely disposed of into a plastic lined truck and sealed prior to transportation.
"A fine mist water spray will be utilised if required to keep clippings damp."
But that hasn't allayed residents' concerns. Islington's Matthew Mooney said he felt "very uncomfortable" about the trial, saying residents had been finding asbestos fragments in the park since it reopened.
"I think there is great concern there around mowing and mowers and whipper snippers and those sorts of things picking up pieces of asbestos and turning it basically into a finer particle matter and creating micro-particles, which further increase the risk of exposure to airborne pieces that can have a devastating impact on people's lives moving forward in the future," Mr Mooney said.
"I think the council has done a very poor job at maintaining those areas in the neighbourhood that they're responsible for and I think they need to review the process, because I think a bigger effort needs to be made to decontaminate not only the park but the nature strip in front of people's houses as well."
He said there was asbestos falling out of tree - a council asset - onto his front garden and roof.
Mr Mooney said residents were frustrated there didn't appear to be any consistency to the management of the clean up.
He said a number of contractors were assessing properties and each appeared to have a different approach to the scopes of work.
Fellow Islington resident Will Sherman said he too was "dumbfounded" at the decision to start the mowing trial.
"The asbestos fragments are hidden in the grass and turf, so it is near impossible to spot it unless you get on your hands and knees and physically comb through it," he said.
"Just because the asbestos can not be seen it doesn't mean it is all clear. It's kind of like landmines, it's the ones you can't see you should be worried about."
Mr Sherman said he feared the council was "rushing to get the park open without stepping back and going 'Let's pause for a minute, is this the right thing to do?'".
"All the guidelines say don't whipper snip, don't cut your grass - and that's what they're going to go ahead and do, which is really contrary."
The council didn't respond to request for comment about the concerns.
Its flyer said everyone involved in the trial would wear protective equipment, air monitoring would be conducted and spot samples taken from equipment and machinery before it is cleaned.
"The results of the air monitoring and sampling will determine the effectiveness of the mowing trial and inform safe planning for an eventual resumption of mowing across the park," it said.
"A similar trial was successfully undertaken earlier this week at Waratah Park, where all air monitoring and sampling results from tests taken during the trial came back clear."
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