ANOTHER angry and frustrated Thurrock mum has told how her family are living in appalling conditions in a Thurrock council flat – and they believe that multi-million pound replacement work going on around them won't make any difference to the quality of their lives.

Last month Thurrock Nub News published a special report on the state of the council's high rise blocks scattered around the borough.

Problems with mould and damp in flats and council homes has beena running sore for years in Thurrock and there is even a Facebook page dedicated to the problems.

And a petition was launched to try and force change.

Part of Thurrock Council's response to our special report was to point out they have a programme of improvements ready to go – and renovations are currently underway at a number of its properties, including the blocks of homes in Purfleet alongside the Thames on the Garrison estate.

Within a couple of days of our initial report, which provoked widespread sympathy for families living in dreadful conditions, blundering workmen at Purfleet left roofs unprotected and a number flats were flooded.

However, the problem of water leaking through flats in the Purfleet flats has a much longer history than that says mum Anna Paluch who told Thurrock Nub News water has been leaking into her family's flat at River Court for four years – and the council has done little about.

She says she has taken her complaints as far as to borough council leader Cllr Rob Gledhill, but there has been little or no response from the authority.

advertisement

Mrs Paluch lived at River Court with her husband and two children, aged nine and 15 and the worst hit room in the flat is bedroom where her daughter sleeps. Pictures and a video show water seeping through, damp patches and stains on the wall and bowls where excessive water is collected every day.

She says the problem has got continually fears and says it is ridiculous that the council are installing replacement windows on the blocks, but appear to be doing little to rectify the water issues.

She says: "Ever since I have lived here, for the last four and a half years, there has been an ongoing leak from above. No matter how many times I report it, no sufficient help has been given. Of the people which have been sent to inspect the leak, they note it down and do not take any further action.

"For the past few weeks, the leak has worsened largely. To the point in which buckets have been laid down to collect the water, large stains have appeared which cover one entire half of the ceiling.

"I have contacted the council including Cllr Gledhill but nothing happens. I just get told 'your message will be passed on'. This response has been given to me many times but there are no outcomes. I have nowhere else to turn to but to the media. Can you help me and my family?

"We would just love this water to be stopped coming in for Christmas."

We have passed the information on to the council – and asked Cllr Gledhill to comment.