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Justine Gordon-Smith |
Film-maker hits the roof over 16 phone masts on flats block
Legal action threatened over cost of survey to trace cause of ceiling leaks
AN award-winning film-maker has paid for her own surveyors’ report after she suspected the weight of 16 mobile phone masts was damaging the ceiling of her top-floor flat.
Now Justine Gordon-Smith – whose film, The Block, about her Stroud Green estate won a prestigious documentary award – is threatening legal action because Islington Council is refusing to refund the £750 cost of the survey.
Ms Gordon-Smith believes a court case will allow her to highlight how residents receive no benefits from the phone masts at the top of a 17-storey tower block in Crouch Hill.
The first mast went up on the roof of Ilex House, on the Holly Park estate, in 1992. More were installed by two operators, T Mobile and Orange, until now there are 16.
But last year Ms Gordon-Smith, who is chairwoman of Holland Walk Housing Panel, discovered leaks in the ceiling of her flat, which she owns, and at five others on the top floor of the block.
She claims that for two months Homes for Islington (HfI) – the council’s housing agency – refused to release any information about the state of the roof, even under the Freedom of Information Act.
She added: “HfI wouldn’t tell me anything. So I got a specialist surveyor who had expertise in this area, Dawson and Associates, to do a study.
“Their report says that the mobile phone masts are blocking rainwater outlets. It also seems cabins and other installations have been placed over the gulleys so the rain can’t drain off the roof.
“HfI could have told me all this and saved me a lot of money. I’m taking advice from a solicitor and planning to take them to the small claims court unless they refund the money.”
HfI has admitted £200,000 repairs will be needed to the roof.
Ms Gordon-Smith added: “The mobile phone companies pay Islington tens of thousands of pounds in rent each year to put their masts on top of Ilex House. That’s where the money should come from.”
Ms Gordon-Smith said: “The contract department at Islington Council has failed to negotiate sensible leases with the mobile phone companies. It appears these companies are not accountable for any damage their masts do. None of the revenue from the masts is being re-invested back into the estate.”
Opposition Labour leader and ward councillor Catherine West claimed the council was avoiding its responsibilities. She added: “It seems that neither tenants nor leaseholders get any benefits from having masts on their roofs.
“The roof of the block is being rented out to the mast operators. Why shouldn’t they pay something towards repairs?”
Lib Dem executive member for housing Councillor Terry Stacy said Ms Gordon-Smith had raised a number of important issues. “I have some sympathy with her, and I’m investigating the points she has made,” he added
“But I’m surprised to hear that HfI refused Ms Gordon-Smith, who is the chair of the local housing panel, information and that she had to commission her own survey.” |
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