'Making us wait for repairs is rotten' (From Warrington Guardian)

'Making us wait for repairs is rotten'

A BEWSEY mum says it's a "disgrace" that Warrington Borough Council has failed to fix her "rotting" kitchen units after two years.

Helen Ijichi, aged 31, of Gerrard Avenue, says that she made her first complaint about the kitchen when she was pregnant, in October 2002.

But she claims that the borough council only addressed the damp problem in February, leaving the crumbling units, and a patch on the wall where they took off wallpaper to do the damp course.

Ms Ijichi, who lives in the house with her partner and three young children, said: "When the workman took the sink unit out to do the work it fell apart and he was told to glue it back together and put it back in!

"It's a disgrace. I'm paying rent on the property and it's not worth it. It's embarrassing for my children when they bring their friends around."

Ms Ijichi says that the borough council has told her she is on the mini improvement scheme and she will have to wait for the work to be done.

She added: "They keep fobbing me off, saying that I'm on this scheme, while it's rotting away. It's not on, I'm fed up of complaining."

Phil Pemberton, assistant director of property services at Golden Gates Housing, said: "At the moment, Golden Gates Housing is in the process of improving and updating more than 675 homes during the current financial year and we plan to complete a further 1,380 next year.

"We realise that we have a number of properties that need updating, however, realistically we cannot complete all of the work at once.

"Therefore, we have had to prioritise homes and areas of most need and have a rolling programme to carry out the necessary work.

"As such, we have planned to make improvements to this property by spring 2005 as set out in our current business plan."