Housing Minister has 'broken his promise'

Residents of a rundown block of flats in Jersey say the Housing Minister has 'broken his promise' to knock it down last year.

Deputy Andrew Green had told Channel Television that some buildings in the Le Squez Estate would be demolished by the end of 2012.

But 12 months on they are still standing, still riddled with damp and mould, and still have tenants living in them.

Mum of three, Lucy Ouless, who lives in D-block told ITV Channel TV:

"My children's bedroom is disgustingly damp and covered in mould. The windows are right next to their beds. I've tried cleaning up the mould, I've tried ventilating, it doesn't make a scrap of difference."

Lucy says the conditions are affecting her son's health:

"My son is asthmatic and at Christmas time he couldn't even take his inhaler because he was coughing so much. We had to take him to hospital and that's due to damp."

The housing department say they will demolish the flats within the next five years, but cannot do it at the moment because there is not enough alternative accommodation for the existing tenants.

In the meantime the department has done some modest work to prolong the life of the flats.

This includes repainting the walls, filling in holes with plaster, installing new electric heaters, carpets and blinds, and putting thermal film on the windows.

The minister has ruled out a complete overhaul as he thinks it would be a waste of money to refurbish buildings that are due to be knocked down in the future.

Deputy Green says there are plans to build more housing so that people in rundown units can be moved.

113 new homes are being built this year which include 80 homes at Langtry Gardens on St Saviour's Hill, 24 units at Le Squez in St Clement and nine lifetime homes on Journeaux Street in St Helier.

Future schemes include 55 units at Lesquende in Les Quennevais and 23 homes at the Ann Court site in town.