A WOMAN whose three children have to share a small bedroom is battling to be re-housed after nine years on the waiting list.

Warrington Borough Council said last April that it wanted to resolve the problem 'as soon as possible'.

But 12 months on, the situation is the same.

Andrea Newton lives in Howson Road, Orford with her partner Stephen Harvey and her three children Craig, aged 13, Lee, aged 11 and Heather, aged nine.

She said: "The children have no space of their own and Craig is at the age where he is hitting puberty.

"They have different bedtimes so it's difficult for them to settle, there's a lack of privacy when they are getting dressed and lack of space to keep anything of their own in.

"Overcrowded doesn't begin to describe it."

Peter Mercer, director of Golden Gates Housing, said that although Ms Newton has been on the waiting list for 14 months, three bedroom homes are normally allocated to families that have been waiting for two years or more.

He said: "We have to take a fair and balanced approached to everyone across Warrington who is currently on our housing lists and decisions are made on that basis.

"If Ms Newton wishes to discuss any of her problems with us we will do our best to help her and explain some of the issues we face when trying to allocate homes."

Ms Newton contacted the Warrington Guardian last year when she discovered she had been taken off the transfer list.

The borough council raised concern that there were no certificates to show a qualified electrician had carried out work to light fittings in her home, yet Ms Newton maintained that the house was just as it was when she moved in.

She has since been put back on the transfer list in band C, which means the family needs to move due to one factor - for example, space.