WEYMOUTH and Portland has the highest level of asbestos related death in Dorset, according to a new study.

The survey by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), found the death rate from inhaling deadly asbestos dust is higher than the national average in the borough.

Weymouth and Portland not only leads Dorset but also has a higher rate than some urban areas including Salford and Bristol.

Figures show that between 2006 and 2010, mesothelioma, a terminal cancer of the lung wall, caused by asbestos dust was the underlying cause of death in 16 cases in the borough.

This translates to three deaths per 100,000 people. The average for England and Wales is 2.5 deaths per 100,000.

Figures for each local authority area were obtained from the Office for National Statistics under the Freedom of Information Act.

Barrow-in-Furness topped the table with 8.4 deaths per 100,000 while Westminster was at the bottom in 323rd place with 0.9 deaths per 100,000. Weymouth and Portland was ranked 93rd. APIL president David Bott said that many workers who had developed mesothelioma were sometimes unable to pursue a claim for damages because they could no longer trace the employer who exposed them to asbestos, or the employer’s insurance company.

He said: “More people die of mesothelioma in Weymouth and Portland per head of the population than in many other parts of the country.

“This is bad enough, but the number of men dying from this disease is expected to peak during the next five years and what many people don’t realise is that hundreds of sufferers across the UK cannot get the compensation they need to help them through the last days of their life.”

West Dorset Coroner Michael Johnston said that the area did have a high incidence of mesothelioma but said that overall it was a rare disease.

The coroner suggested the high rate locally could be linked to former Royal Navy personnel and workers at Portland dockyard.

He said: “There was a naval dockyard at Portland and a lot of sailors stayed around the area. Everybody who served in Her Majesty’s ships until about the 80s, they accept they were exposed.”

He added that the ships had asbestos lagging around pipes and boilers and that whenever there was a burst or leak sailors had to take the asbestos lagging off and repaired it by mixing more asbestos powder with water.

Mr Johnston said: “That’s the basic reason we have a hotspot here.”

Mr Johnston said that he also saw many trades people, builders and carpenters with mesothelioma and had also had cases of doctors and dentists developing the disease.

He said: “It is still a rare disease. Between 85 to 90 per cent of mesothelioma can be shown to be cases of known exposure to asbestos.”

Portland councillor for Underhill and county councillor for Portland Harbour, Tim Munro said it ‘wasn’t good news’ but said that a number of factors including an older population and the popularity of the borough as a retirement site could have affected the results.

He said: “I don’t think there’s any cause for alarm locally.”

Out of 323 sites around England and Wales.

The highest mortality rate per 100,000 population where mesothelioma was the underlying cause of death is Barrow-in-Furness with 8.4 per 100,000.

Lowest is Westminster with 0.9 per 100,000.

The national average is 2.5 deaths per 100,000.

Weymouth and Portland was 93rd with 3 deaths per 100,000.

Poole was 110th with 2.8 deaths per 100.000.

North Dorset was 190th with 2.2 per 100,000.

Purbeck was 195th with 2.2 per 100,000.

Bournemouth was 218th with 2.1 deaths per 100,000.

East Dorset was 238th with 2 deaths per 100,000.

West Dorset was 276th with 1.7 deaths per 100,000.