Retirees 'unable to pay bills' over cladding works

A retirement home resident has said they could “ill afford” higher bills they faced while their building was without cladding.

Gilton House, in Brislington, Bristol, had its cladding removed two years ago leaving the building without insulation and some residents said they had to choose between higher bills or enduring the cold.

Bristol City Council is reportedly planning on paying residents £325 compensation but some say this is not enough.

Fiona Lester, interim director of the homes and landlord service, said no final decision had been made.

She also added that they were aiming at “being transparent” in their decision-making process.

The cladding had to be removed because it had proven to be flammable, but due to several mistakes the works had to be delayed repeatedly.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), some residents even left their flats to stay with friends or family to escape higher electricity bills.

Labour councillor Zoë Peat said it was a “miscarriage of justice” to provide residents with “£25 per month of compensation for not being able to live in their homes”.

She demanded that the plan should be presented to the homes and housing delivery policy committee as she predicts that “there will be other buildings in Bristol like this”.

Nigel Varley, from the Gilton House Residents Association, said he has paid around £500 extra in heating bills during the time the cladding was removed.

He added: "We want a level of compensation for the unnecessary disruption caused by the delays, with noise, dirt, and the loss of amenity of our flats, because they’ve been covered in scaffolding for two years.

“For weeks on end they were going around banging the scaffolding, it was terrible”.

Mr Varley has called the decision-making process “grossly unfair”.

He said: “None of this is our fault, and yet we’re being required to pay a substantial sum of money, which we can ill afford”.

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