HOUSING trust bosses have been criticised for making pensioners move items from store rooms into their ‘tiny’ flats.

Residents at Chapel Court in Wilmslow were required by Monday to remove any of their belongings from store cupboards and communal rooms or areas.

The block of 26 one-bed flats is managed by Peaks and Plains Housing Trust, which said the items were a fire risk and needed to be kept in residents’ flats.

The trust said the communal rooms were not storage areas and the store cupboards were for the trust’s use only.

The call to remove the belongings has been criticised as ‘a crazy idea’ by David Tutton, 71, who has lived at Chapel Court in Hawthorn Street for 10 years.

He did not believe the items were a fire risk, and said if they did pose such a risk, moving them into residents’ flats would not remove that risk.

He said feelings were ‘running high’ at Chapel Court among residents at being forced to remove their belongings, which included suitcases, wheelchairs, walking frames, crutches and stepladders.

“This is unfair and ill thought-out from the trust,” said Mr Tutton, who kept a suitcase in a store room.

“All these items, which were contained in store rooms with fireproof doors, will have to be kept in the tiny residents' flats - spreading what the trust says is the fire risk they pose throughout the building, from top to bottom.

“They are very small flats, and residents haven’t got the room to store these items.

“There has never been a fire in a store room, and residents have said what a crazy idea this is.

“It’s very high-handed, and I would like the trust to allow us to put our things back in the store rooms.”

A number of residents including Mr Dutton have bicycles, and the trust said anyone with a bicycle stored in the hall side room would be able to keep it in the scooter room.

A trust spokesman said: “We recently wrote to all our residents in sheltered accommodation asking them to clear out communal areas and storage rooms, which are meant for the sole use of the trust.

This was on the back of an annual fire safety risk assessment.

“In this letter we acknowledged that it’s not always easy to store bulky items in the flats.

“However the communal rooms are not storage areas and the store cupboards are for the trust’s use only.

“While not all items are highly flammable – for example stepladders -these storage rooms are on the emergency routes on an upper floor of the building and contain suitcases, carpets, beds and bedding.

“We continue to be happy to help with the storage of wheelchairs and bikes in our dedicated scooter store.”

Margaret Goddard, the trust’s assistant director of homes said: “Peaks and Plains Housing Trust takes fire safety extremely seriously, and where we spot steps to improve the safety of our residents we will take them.”