Finsbury tenants shiver, but Islington Council stays toasty warm

Published: 10th December, 2010
by PETER GRUNER

AN angry housing manager coping with heating problems took a thermometer into the Town Hall to prove that it was warmer than the flats on his Finsbury estate.

Thomas Cooper took action after residents on the Spa Green estate complained about the cold in their flats, with daytime temperatures as low as 13C to 15C.

Mr Cooper decided to go to the Town Hall in Upper Street in the hope of speaking personally to executive member for housing, Labour councillor James Murray about the issue. Cllr Murray was not available.

Mr Cooper said: “While I was there I decided to take out my thermometer and measure the temperature in the foyer of the Town Hall. Even with the double door onto the street opening and closing electronically it was still a warm 19.6C.

“It compares favourably with temperatures as low as 13C to 15C that I measured inside flats at Spa Green.” he said. “The problem with members of the council is that they don’t feel the cold. That’s why they cannot always understand our plight.”

A million pounds has been spent on a new heating system for Spa Green but Mr Cooper says it does not operate effectively, particularly in very cold weather.

“Some people have decent heating, some don’t,” he added. “Now the council want to turn it off at night as well as put up the charges in January.”

Tenant Lucinda Bowers described how one bedroom was unusable during winter because it was so cold. Mrs Bowers has three children ­– aged five, six and eleven weeks.

She said: “The room has condensation pouring down the walls. It has been less than 16C at times. It’s too cold for the kids to sleep in.”

The row over the borough’s communal heating systems spread to the Elthorne estate at Archway, where tenant leaders warned that residents would not tolerate having no heating during the night.

Islington Council has said it wants all estates to be on 18 hour community heating instead of 24 hours, as some are at present.

Hillrise ward Lib Dem councillor Lorraine Constantinou said: “My main concern is that all tenants, including those on the Elthorne, keep warm. Heating charges will go up from January. 

“It will be a lot of extra money to find for people who are already hard up.”

Michele Carr, chairwoman of Brook Park on the Elthorne estate, said the majority of tenants want to continue with 24 hour heating rather than 18 hours. 

“It’s also a hot water issue,” she said. “When the heating is reduced by five degrees the hot water is tepid. People who are vulnerable or elderly, who are up during the night, have ­little heating and no hot water.”

She added that tenants are already paying high rates for their heating and hot water and shouldn’t have to pay any more. “We’ve never had an increase in heating in January before,” she said. “It’s always happened in April. People don’t budget for an increase the first week after Christmas.”

Councillor Murray said he was now in contact with Mr Cooper and was pushing to have the heating problems on the estate fixed. 

“In the case of luke-warm radiators, Homes for Islington tell me that has been improved,” he said. “But we need to get engineers back in there to sort out individual problems.”