MORE than £200,000 has been spent clearing asbestos from Liverpool Cathedral, the Daily Post can reveal.

And the work to remove the deadly material from the UK’s largest cathedral looks set to continue – although assurances have been made the building will not be closed while renovations are carried out.

Music at services is likely to suffer, though, as organists have been told not to use 641 of the organ’s 10,268 pipes for fear of dislodging the carcinogenic fibres.

The Dean of Liverpool Cathedral, the Very Reverend Justin Welby, said they had been advised to get rid of the asbestos by safety experts following an inspection on May 26, but there was no danger to the congregation.

He said:“This is something we didn’t budget for, but we don’t want to take any chances.

“We’ve had to seal off some of the organ pipes, and only real aficionados will be able to tell it isn’t the whole thing playing.”

So far, £203,000 has been spent and it is estimated another £70,000 will be spent on making the area around the organ safe.

After Christmas, scaffolding will go up in the South Case so the asbestos can be removed. It was originally put in as lagging around water pipes.

“Only about 10% of the building will be affected – it’s not going to look very nice, but it won’t close the cathedral down.

“Making sure the building was safe was at the forefront of our minds, and we will spend whatever it takes,” said Dean Welby.