Residents in one of Coventry’s tower blocks claim disgusting conditions have been ignored for nearly a decade.
Residents Adrian Barry, Marcella Derby, Pete Stanton and Councillor Russell Fields
Now a city councillor, left “disgusted” and “concerned” during a tour of Alpha House, has joined the fight to resolve ongoing issues in the Barras Green flats.
Tenants say the 17-floor block, owned by Whitefriars Housing Group, is no longer fit for purpose, with as many as 20 of the 97 flats riddled with mould and damp.
Resident Marcella Derby claims most of the plaster on her bathroom ceiling collapsed last Monday.
The 48-year-old said: “I was in the living room, just about to go in the shower, when I heard an almighty bang in the bathroom.
“I went to check what had happened and the plaster had fallen into the bath. I’m just thankful I wasn’t in the shower at the time.”
Ms Derby contacted Whitefriars about the incident and engineers arrived to patch up the ceiling.
But she says it would never have happened if they had acted when she reported an ongoing leak two months ago.
Councillor Russell Field (Lib Dem, Upper Stoke) visited on Friday, in response to numerous complaints.
And he is determined action should be taken. “I’m disgusted and I’m concerned that the problems have been going on for such a long time,” he said.
“I have complained to Whitefriars and spoken to an officer who admitted they had problems gaining access to flats and arranging for the right people to carry out the work at the same time. But the excuse is not good enough and I’m not going to let Whitefriars off the hook.
“From what I’ve seen, it’s clear to me the flats have reached the end of their useful life.”
The tower block, built in 1962, became a magnet for antisocial behaviour and police increased patrols of the site in 2006.
Last year Whitefriars spent £2.3 million on a new reception area, windows and external cladding for the building.
But tenant Adrian Barry – who says he has lodged numerous complaints about mould in his flat – said: “It looks nice from the outside, but it’s a different story when you look inside.”
The 59-year-old: “I want to say thanks for the windows but can I have a new bathroom now please?”
Former resident and previous Alpha House Residents’ Association chairman Pete Stanton said Whitefriars have known about the problem for eight years.
He said: “People still come to me about problems with their flats, on average about two a week, and we tell Whitefriars about them but nothing ever gets done.”
It's the same story on every Whitefriars estate. They spend millions tarting-up the outside of properties but ignore leak reports until thousands of pounds worth of damage has already been done.
