salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=2390
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HelenaDove Sat 24-Jun-17 01:29:08
More on the shit the Salford residents went through. They complained and complained about the works and were put through seven shades of crap. And the cladding was unsafe and now has to come off.
"They said it would be the best thing since sliced bread...now I'm living on sandwiches..."
73 year old George Astley was the first resident to move into Whitebeam Court years ago, after his family's house was compulsorily purchased and bulldozed by Salford Council. There's still nothing built on the former street.
Since then, he's made Whitebeam Court his home and was quite happy there – until Salford Council came knocking again, promising to `change' Pendleton for the better.
"They said it would be the best thing since sliced bread" George recalls "All we get is pamphlets through the door about what they're going to with Salford but there's people living in Salford."
George and all the residents we speak to describe horrific living conditions since the Keepmoat work crews came in to refurbish the block as part of the first phase of the £650million Pendleton Together PFI project - which will see 1,250 homes receive a `makeover' as well as 1,500, largely unaffordable, new homes built and hundreds demolished (see previous Salford Star article – click here).
George, whose flat has been ripped apart around him, has gone without hot water for two weeks, and has just a microwave to heat food since his gas cooker was disconnected weeks ago.
"I can't eat ready meals, I don't like them, and I can't afford to go to a restaurant so I'm living on sandwiches" he explains "I'm also waiting to see my electric bill coming in as they're plugging everything into my electric and leaving the lights on.
"There's dust everywhere" he adds, and, pointing out bits of cable and pipes hanging everywhere and holes in the wall, explains "We call it a demolition squad and that's what they are. They cut my bell off and it's nowt to do with electric, it's batteries. They cut it off on the wire, they don't give a toss what they do. The guy across the way had his phone line cut before they even started. They were supposed to have put my heating in yesterday but half the radiators are not connected...
"They started doing the lift in April and said it would take 22 weeks to do the job; it's still not done; it's just disorganised, they don't know what they're doing" he explains "I've worked on building sites all my life, I was with British Gas for 32 years, but these have no idea. Noise? From 7am to 4:30pm there's a generator going all day, it drives you nuts...
"I'm 73 I don't need this" he sighs "I don't know how older, less well people are going to cope. Every weekend I'm cleaning when I could be out. Complain? Who to? They don't care. It's ok for them, they go home to a nice clean house with a hot meal - I'm living on sandwiches."
George's sentiments are echoed by other residents... "It's been chaos all the time" says John Clarkson "They left my flat like a hand grenade had gone off."
And Jamie on the 11th floor agrees with the war metaphor... "It's catastrophic, it's demoralising" he says "I expected it to be bad, you're living on a building site so it's going to be bad, but not this bad in my wildest dreams. I've seen houses after they've been hit by artillery and they look better than what my hall looked like when I had four loads of electricians and plumbers, all working at the same time" he adds "...Cables hanging out the ceiling, floors being flooded all at the same time...You're expected to live in one room; with no exaggeration it was like living in a war zone. They gave us dust sheets on day 17!"
Many feel that the more vulnerable residents should have been decanted to other properties while the work was ongoing... "On this block there's a lot of hurt and upset" Jamie explains "We've got people with so many issues – mental health, disability...only yesterday one person had got everything boxed up and they were walking over everything he owns.
"...One lady downstairs said that she'd had to send out for so many meals in the last few months she can't fit into a dress she bought for a wedding!" he adds "Some of us can cope but for some of these people the difference between making it and not making it is a fiver a week. They can't send out for food, so they have a choice, heat or eat. And that's wrong."
Indeed, the Salford Star has seen an email by a senior housing officer on the project which stated that he was "shocked" and "disturbed" at what he had seen after visiting some of the tenants' flats. And last week, the head of the PFI, Paul Longshaw, and Salford Council Assistant Mayor, Paul Dennett, met around twenty residents to try and sort out the mess.
"The human side of this has been totally disregarded and there's no regard for people living on this building site, for that's what it is" says another resident "As long as it looks good on the outside that's all they care about. And that's the worst part of it, that the human side has not even been considered."
Indeed, the hype around Pendleton Together isn't just about the outside appearance but also the new `environmental system' installed in all the flats, in the form of what looks like a giant silver fridge.
The Star was told that it's a potential fuel poverty nightmare waiting to happen. Apparently the environmental system is only cheaper if it isn't switched off, or cut off through power failure or someone's credit running out; or someone getting confused by the 15 page booklet and switching it off by mistake.
"It has to stay on 24 hours a day seven days a week" says Jamie "If you turn it off and the temperature drops down inside, when you turn it back on again you've got two basic immersion heaters screaming their heads off at the same time. Normally you'd put £10 in it which would do people for a week but to boost the system back up would see your £10 gone straight away. We've tried to sort out a fund for people who are in fuel poverty.
"The system is also only cheaper with 100% insulation" he adds "At the moment, our windows are unsealed, we've got six inch holes in the wall and we're heating the moon..