Clay Farm Trumpington: Children 'cold and suffering' at flats

A resident of a building that has had heating issues for months said children were being left "cold and suffering".

Alex Melville, a resident of one of 20 flats at The Clay Farm Centre in Trumpington, Cambridge, said he was boiling kettles to bathe his children.

The building is also home to a GP surgery which has had water coming through the ceiling, and a doctor fears they could close if flooding continues.

Cambridge City Council said the boiler was due to be fixed within three weeks.

Father-of-three Mr Melville, who runs a design studio, moved into the building when it opened in 2018.

The building has had intermittent heating issues since June, with Mr Melville stating that the "boiler's broken, the council, everyone's leaving the children cold and suffering inside".

He has hung a banner outside his flat in protest and said families were being asked to shower in the nearby sports centre when problems occur.

"It's unreasonable to offer shower facilities at the sports centre when we have to walk with kids in their pyjamas, so we've been boiling kettles to fill the bath," he said.

Dr Barbara Bull, from Trumpington Medical Practice, said since moving in during 2020 they had battled "endless plumbing issues".

"We have now had four different leaks with the last one being the most serious," she said.

"We've had to close down three of our treatment rooms because of water coming through the ceiling. Thankfully not sewage, but it has been very detrimental to our daily functioning."

The surgery, which has about 10,000 patients, has a rota for staff come in at the weekend three times a day to mop the floor.

"We are meeting [patient] demand, but at the expense of the staff. We have incredibly loyal, hard-working staff who are stretched beyond their limits doing their clinical work and dealing with all these challenges.

"We will not be able to continue like this. We need help."

She said her biggest fear was "if this kind of flooding extends then we will have to close down the surgery".

Liberal Democrat councillor David Levien, who represents Trumpington, urged the authority to take responsibility and fix the problem.

"It's becoming a sick building. This is a central resource for all the new buildings around here and needs to be functioning properly," he said.

The building is owned by Cambridge City Council and social housing association BPHA is the landlord for the residents.

The council's deputy leader, Labour's Alex Collis, said: "All residents received a letter on Friday from the council and BPHA apologising for the issues they are experiencing due to a fault with a council-owned boiler, and to set out what is being done to resolve the situation.

"The council will be replacing the boiler and expects this to happen within three weeks. Residents will be advised ASAP of a date and the hours during which the work will happen."

"While we don't expect lengthy outages now, there are still electric heaters available for anyone who needs one and, if needed, residents are still welcome to use the shower facilities at Trumpington Sports Centre."

A council spokesperson said they were working to identify the source of the leak at the medical practice.

BPHA said it was "very sorry that Clay Farm residents have experienced ongoing problems with their heating and hot water".

"We're currently speaking with residents to arrange access and will continue to provide regular updates," it added.

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