Home

Recent news

Archive

Residents battle against years of council neglect

Occupants of the Field Avenue maisonettes have had an ongoing battle with the council over the last few years to get even the most basic repairs and maintenance carried out. Now they are calling for their accommodation to be brought up to standard, and as part of this they are campaigning for the former drying area in front of the flats—now derelict—to be converted into a children’s play area.

The idea for this actually came from the Blackbird Leys housing office, which offered to install it last year. Residents were surprised at the council’s new-found generosity but welcomed the idea with open arms. Parents on the upper floor of the maisonettes were particularly keen to see the work go ahead because at present their young children have nowhere safe to play outdoors apart from the balcony.

When the housing office turned around and said that it had scrapped plans for the play area, both children and parents alike were understandably disappointed. No explanation was given for the sudden change of heart.

However, tenants are now determined to see the play area built. After the poor service they have received from the council they feel it’s the least that can be done to make the block more inhabitable.

Over the last few years there has been a catalogue of problems with the maisonettes which the council has largely failed to tackle. Many of the issues have still not been resolved, with tenants spending months and even years trying to get the Blackbird Leys housing office or Oxford Building Solutions (OBS) to take their complaints seriously.

These include:

• A silverfish infestation that affects several of the flats. These insects are usually attracted by damp and generally only come out at night—after checking one of the flats during the day OBS concluded that there can’t be any silverfish because, as they insist, there is no damp problem. When tenants contacted the Environmental Health department they were told to use ant or garden insect poison. Even a cursory investigation of the problem would suggest this won’t be effective.
• Slippery, badly maintained stairs. One resident slipped on these recently and injured her wrist. When a child hurt herself badly falling down these stairs two years ago the council promised to apply non-slip paint—tenants are still waiting for the job to be done.
• Damp in the brickwork which is causing mould on some of the internal walls. OBS told residents to clean the walls.
• Outside lighting which is constantly out of action, leaving the area in front of the maisonettes in darkness.
• Rubbish around the flats. This is scattered during collection by the cleansing service and also left by people from elsewhere who use the area as a dumping ground. Residents insist that even though they pay for a caretaker as part of their service charge to Oxford City Council they have never seen anyone doing this job.

Commenting on the situation, IWCA councillor Stuart Craft said, ‘Residents pay rent and in return the council should keep the properties properly maintained. Unfortunately I’ve heard far too many reports of the housing office and OBS failing to provide the service that their tenants are entitled to expect. This needs to change.’

Just around the corner from the Field Avenue maisonettes lives one person who is in a position to get something done. However, while New Labour councillor Val Smith may be the portfolio holder for housing in the city, she hasn’t so far shown any interest in looking into her own department in order to help ordinary tenants on Blackbird Leys.

The best way for residents to get the council to take them seriously would be to vote her out. As her seat isn’t up for re-election until 2006 people will have to content themselves this year with voting against her Labour Party colleague, Pat Stannard—and sending her the message that she’ll be next.

Leys Independent, issue 22, April 2004