Lambeth estate residents still living with rotten windows and leaking ceilings six months after councillor promised to help

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Residents on a crumbling estate are still living with rotten windows and leaking ceilings six months after a councillor pledged to fix their homes.

Labour councillor Liz Atkins signed a document promising residents on the Leigham Court estate in Lambeth they would get new windows and structural surveys of their properties in April, ahead of the local elections in May.

Six months on, residents of the estate in Streatham are still dealing with the problems with no solution in sight. They claim many emails to their local Streatham East councillors have gone unanswered since the election in May.

Resident Jackie Newton, 57, said: “We said we wanted new windows and a main person to contact, but they’ve just stopped replying to emails. They seem to want to deal with individual cases but not with us as a group. We want to know what the plan is for the estate.

“All the wood on the window in my daughter’s room is rotten. We can’t shut or push it open because it’s just hanging on by the hinges. If she opens the window it will fall down. It’s going to cause an accident and fall on someone.”

Council tenant Ms Newton said she reported the window to Lambeth council in 2019, but three years later it’s still not fixed. Her house also has a recurring leak through the living room ceiling.

Ms Newton, an administrator, added: “With the cost of energy, I don’t know how we’re meant to keep warm. The insulation in the homes on the estate is terrible and the condition of many of the windows is awful. My daughter’s room is big and it’s absolutely freezing.”

Leaseholder Dan Jones, 33, said despite forking out £1,500 per year on a service fee to Lambeth council, the rear of his property had raw sewage running down it.

He said: “The exterior is falling apart. There’s raw sewage going down the back of my property. A flower bed fell down from a floor above and smashed all the tiles and they’re still broken.

“I’ve been trying to get them [Lambeth council] to do work on the back and tiles for two years but it’s impossible to get through to them. I’ve thought about moving but why should I have to change my life?”

Cllr Liz Atkins was elected to Streatham Hill East for Labour with 29 per cent of the vote in May. Cllr Rezina Chowdhury was also elected for Labour in the ward, picking up 28 per cent of votes.

A Lambeth council spokeswoman said: “We are producing a long-term investment strategy for Leigham Court estate as part of our plan for council properties in the borough. This will meet our decent homes commitments to council tenants.

“This follows previous investment in Leigham Court estate, over and above the general day to day repair needs, worth more than £8million, including work that is currently under way on the outside of the flats.

“This work is being carried out in a way that reflects the historic nature of these 120-year-old housing blocks which are in a conservation area.”

Pictured top: Leigham Court estate residents, from left, Beryl Kilbride, Jackie Newton, Dan Jones and Jason Buckle (Picture: Robert Firth)