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Tenants Leo Fitzgerald, Maureen Hall, Anne Harris, Lisa Burr and Jean Cross |
Tenants: call this a Decent Home?
Repairs spark complaints of ugly work and living in ‘building sites’ for weeks
COUNCIL tenants have been left close to tears by a project which was supposed to have given their flats a sparkling new look.
Instead of celebrating new kitchens and bathrooms, residents in Gospel Oak invited the New Journal to the Southfleet estate on Friday to hear miserable tales generated by the “Decent Homes” work.
They told how the upheaval has turned their homes into “building sites” for weeks, while home improvements they had done themselves in the past were unceremoniously ripped down. Others warned that the final product often includes ugly trunking – plastic pipes of wire – running across the walls of flats.
Their stories will serve as a warning to thousands of tenants still waiting for the borough-wide refurbishment programme to reach their homes. The promised improvements are being funded through the sale of council homes. The Town Hall yesterday (Wednesday) insisted that most residents have been happy with changes to their homes.
Senior staff have admitted they do not have enough money to do a “gold-plated” job and that the amount of tiles and other materials have been limited.
Tenant Jean Cross said: “I won’t have them in my flat if there’s going to be trunking everywhere. I’ll do the kitchen myself.”
Tenants said that one unnamed resident on the estate had been threatened with court action if she refused to grant access to workmen, later receiving an apology for the heavy-handed tone.
Maureen Hall, whose late husband Bob was the popular former Mayor of Camden, said: “I am not sure what is going to happen to my flat yet but I’ve been told some of it will have to come down. My husband was into DIY and put stuff in the bathroom and kitchen himself. We paid for it ourselves so it would be how we wanted. Now, they are saying it’s got to come down.”
Anne Harris, who showed the New Journal around her dust-splattered flat, added: “I regret letting them in in the first place now. I’m living in one room. I’ve told them they have to be gone by Christmas.”
Lisa Burr said a new electrical fusebox installed outside her flat caught fire within days.
A council spokeswoman said no complaints had been made about the work. “Surveys completed by residents show 96.6 per cent are satisfied by the works we have completed,” she added. Residents could opt out of work, apart from that required for health and safety reasons. Every effort was made to minimise visible work, including trunking.”
The fuse box fire was caused by a miniature circuit breaker and was not due to incorrect installation |
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