BARROW Borough Council may have acted decisively to address concerns raised this summer about the risk of legionella in Barrow, Walney and Dalton, but despite the assurances, questions still persist.

Most importantly of all, which of the council’s 19 shops had ‘critical or essential’ issues that needed fixing, and has there been any risk at all to the public who may have visited these premises before works to safeguard them was carried out?

These are legitimate questions following the 2002 Legionnaire’s Disease outbreak in the town, which saw the council’s inspection regime of the time coming in for severe criticism.

Seven members of the public died, 180 people suffered ill health and subsequent reports estimated that approximately 2,500 people were affected.

Furthermore, there were 494 cases clinically diagnosed as possible cases, 180 of which were confirmed cases after various laboratory tests.

Those who died were Richard Macauley, aged 89; Wendy Milburn, 56, Georgina Sommerville, 54, Harriet Low, 74, Elizabeth Dixon, 80, June Miles, 56, and Christina Merewood, 55.

The council needs to re-evaluate how this latest scare slowly crept out - buried away as it was in a council sub-committee report.

It’s a fine line between sparking a panic and the public’s right to know.