Islington Council this week pledged to deal with a damp-ridden estate once and for all.
It follows a protest at Highbury’s Park View Estate from tenants who demanded: “We deserve better.”
Highbury East’s Cllr Caroline Russell said the council had failed to act on the structural issues causing damp in many of the homes.
Tenant Sarah Brakes added: “It’s been a problem since I moved in seven years ago. My son can’t sleep in his own room. My daughter had been on medication, but when she moved to university, she didn’t need the medication any more. That says it all, really.
“I literally have a surveyor come every year, but it never makes any difference to the problem.”
Cllr Russell, the sole opposition Green member, handed in a 100-strong petition about the issue to the Labour council in December.
She was angry at the town hall’s “non-committal” response last month, which she said made no promise to look at the structural problems in the buildings.
But after the council was approached by the Gazette following the tenants’ protest, housing boss Cllr Diarmaid Ward pledged: “In response to Park View Estate residents’ concerns, we’re carrying out surveys of drainage on the estate that residents have raised as a problem, and will carry out any remedial work that is needed.
“Meanwhile if any resident in the estate is experiencing damp or problems with water in their home, we ask them to please report it to us and we will investigate and sort it out.”
A number of Islington estates have suffered damp, and the council last year had to set aside £22million to deal with the crises in Finsbury Park’s Andover Estate and Archway’s Girdlestone Estate.
Cllr Russell, meanwhile, said: “The Park View residents are right to be fed up. For years the council has been implementing quick fix repairs that don’t solve the underlying source of the damp. The council must now deal with the structural issues actually causing it.”
Tenants and leaseholders affected by damp or water issues can call Islington Council’s Housing Direct service on 0800 694 3344 or 020 7527 5400.
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