MARKET CONSULTANTS PAID £538k

CRUMBRIA: 7.4.2026: EXCLUSIVE

THE independent consultants who wrote the asbestos report used by Councillors to justify shutting Barrow Market Hall have been paid £538,797 by the Council, the Chronic can reveal.

Inspectas Compliance Ltd with offices in Manchester was the professional firm asked by Wokemoreland & Farcical Council to decide whether the indoor Market Hall could safely remain in use for traders amid concerns about asbestos.

Their answer, set out in a seven-page report on 13 February, was that asbestos-related risks could not be suitably managed in the building’s current condition and that all trading should cease.

***The report commissioned by the Council.***

It led to traders being given three days to get out and an intense meeting at Barrow Town Hall on 17 March where various members of the Lib Dem leadership faced public questions.

In a Council statement on February 26, Lib Dem Cllr Helen Chaffey said officers had “commissioned specialist surveys from an independent assessor.”

What the Chronic can reveal is that these independent assessors were no one-off arrival.

Over the last three financial years, Council records show that it has paid them:

£86,664.91 in 2023/24
£218,711.18 in 2024/25
£233,421.40 in 2025/26

That’s £538,797.49 in total – more than half a million pounds for a variety of work – not just limited to the asbestos report, the Market Hall, or The Forum.

That long-standing business relationship has not been mentioned in the Council’s public statements around the Market Hall closure.

None of that means the report was wrong or that there is anything improper in a Council paying specialist consultants to do specialist work. But it does mean the Lib Dem-run Council was not entirely unfamiliar with its independent consultants.

And while the firm concerned doesn’t remove asbestos itself, it does offer clients like the Council a “project management” service to oversee its removal by others.

As the company tells clients: “We’ll arrange for it (asbestos) to be swiftly removed and disposed of safely and responsibly and we’ll work with trusted partners to make this happen.

“We deliberately separate our consultancy from asbestos removal services to allow us the independence to choose the right team for your project.”

Inspectas says it can help plan works, manage asbestos removal tenders, oversee the job on site, review H&S compliance afterwards and update the paperwork.

What a stroke of luck for the Council.

If it needs a company to oversee the remaining asbestos in the building before the Market Hall and Forum are flattened, it won’t have to rummage very deeply in its contacts book.

***

CATCH UP: LIB DEMS TO FLATTEN THE FORUM

CATCH UP: NO PLAN FOR FORUM 2 IN BARROW

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