Huthwaite residents ‘living in a nightmare’

Work has taken place on 11 homes on Newfall Street as part of a Government energy saving scheme.

But residents on the street say the work has not been complete and their houses have been left in a terrible state.

Dorothy Taylor has the ‘worst’ of 11 homes on the same street - affected by the work carried out more than a year ago.

Rain pours through her window into her kitchen, sharp metal edges were left unfinished, drain pipes were removed and not replaced which means drained bath water drenches her back yard.

She said: “Water just keeps coming in and I don’t know what to do anymore.

I’m really upset and worried about it. I’ve lived in this house for 56 years and nothing like this has ever happened before.”

Her kitchen window was built over so it no longer opens fully. A neighbour also has the emergency fire escape in his son’s bedroom built over with the insulation so it no longer opens.

The scheme organised by the Government was to help insulate the homes to reduce energy and costs to residents.

Mrs Taylor’s case has now been taken up by Ashfield MP Gloria De Piero, who says the work was originally carried out by a company called Drury Builders, based in Scunthorpe.#

Drury was itself subcontracted by Geese Ltd, which has subsequently gone out of business.

Drury Builders has refused to return to work as it claims it has not been paid by Geese Ltd and the Ombudsman and Trading Standards have so far been unable to reach a solution.

But the stalemate has left residents claiming they are worse off than when work began and have joined forces to try and get the problem sorted.

Ray Jepson owns one of the houses and said he just wants the work to be sorted like it was promised.

He said: “We have been living with this nightmare for more than a year now and Dorothy’s is the worst.

“It’s absolutely disgusting we are being left to live in unlivable homes and nobody wants to resolve this.”

Ms De Piero has visited the houses and has vowed to take action.

She said: “You only have to take one look at the state that some of the houses have been left in to see what disgrace it is.

“These residents deserve much, much better than this dodgy building work and they certainly never expected to be left in this terrible situation when they signed up to this Government scheme. It’s wrong and I’m not going to stand for it and I’m absolutely determined to get this fixed.”

She has written to Npower and Ofgem, as the obligation also sits with the energy provider.

Chad contacted the companies involved but each refused to take responsibilty for their part in the work.

Mike Dare, partner of Geese Ltd, said he did not want to see a woman of that age in that kind of situation and has personally made arrangements for basic repairs to be done at Mrs Taylor’s property.