H2-no problem sparks outrage
RESIDENT ANGRY WITH OUTAGES IN BLOCK OF FLATS
“SERIOUS neglect” at a Gateshead block of flats has left occupants without water seven times in two weeks, a resident has claimed.
Laura Middleton, 27, claims residents on Cameronian Square are reaching the end of their tether with having no water supply for up to 24 hours at a time.
The video producer has hit out at Kingston Property Services, which manages the building, for allegedly leaving residents unable to wash their hands, have a shower or do their laundry on multiple occasions during the coronavirus pandemic.
Laura, who has lived in the building for three years, claimed: “It goes back to April when we had no water which was an issue in lockdown when we were supposed to be washing our hands.
“Over the past two weeks, the water has been on and off and it can last from a few hours up to a day, like it was on a bank holiday weekend.
“Kingston keeps providing a short-term fix and there is no communication with residents as to what is happening.
“When I spoke with them recently they said they are only performing reactive repairs at the moment. What is the point in that? Water is one of the basic things you expect and they should be proactive in carrying out repair work.”
The flats are in the Ochre Yards area, where residents also face disruption to journeys due to controversial town-centre roadworks.
Laura also claims the cleaning in the communal areas of the the block has not been up to scratch since lockdown was imposed in March.
She added: “With the ongoing roadworks it has been a nightmare. For our disabled residents, they had no running water with no pedestrian access into the estate to access bottled water from the shops.
“We also have NHS workers in our building who have needed to wash their clothing after a shift.
“Cleaning of the building ceased during lockdown and has not yet got back to normal. Around four weeks ago someone was sick in the hallway and it has yet to be cleaned up. The vomit is now ingrained into the carpet. When hygiene is so important, it is just not good enough.”
Kingston Property Services said an issue with the water tank has now been rectified, but the company is awaiting a part to fully resolve a problem with a control panel.
However, Laura believes residents should be entitled to a refund for their trouble and claimed the issues have intensified as Kingston’s outof-hours team are “unreachable”.
She said: “We’ve been given no support, no compensation despite numerous interactions with the company. We have no way to contact anyone out of hours effectively.
“It’s absolutely terrible. While I’ve been there the service charge has increased, but the quality of service has decreased. I don’t really see what I’m paying for now.
“The communal areas need cleaning and they need to be proactive on repairing the water issues once and for all.”
Carly Waller, Kingston assistant director of block management, said: “We are concerned to hear of resident complaints and have investigated the matter.
“A contractor attended Cameronian Square twice over the bank holiday and has fitted a part to a water pump to resolve the problem of water tanks not refilling automatically.
“The water tanks were fully filled to ensure residents had access to a water supply while work was carried out to fix the pump.
“We received another report this week of low water pressure at the properties and a temporary fix has been made to a control panel to ensure water supply while we await a part to fully resolve the problem.
“We strive to offer the best possible service to our leaseholders, running an out-of-hours service to ensure we can tackle any problems whenever they are reported to us.
“We apologise that residents have experienced intermittent interruption to their water supply and can assure them that every effort has been made to fix these problems as soon as we possibly could.”
ba‘ck‘
It goes to April when we had no water which was an issue in lockdown when we were supposed to be washing our hands
LAURA MIDDLETON