ISLINGTON TENANTS WIN BATTLE FOR 24-HOUR HEAT ON ESTATES

THOUSANDS of tenants on Islington estates are to get 24-hour heating and hot water during the cold snap thanks to their plight being highlighted by the Tribune. In a remarkable intervention, Town Hall Lib Dem leader Councillor Terry Stacy has ordered that all communal boilers be left on after midnight until the extreme cold weather is over and the system of heating can be reviewed. This week, contractors were visiting the borough’s 52 communal boilers to increase heating from the current 18 hours to 24. The intervention followed last week’s article highlighting the threat to the health of thousands of residents, including mothers with babies, the sick and the elderly, because heating was being switched off at midnight. The switch-off was said to have been made to save money and reduce the impact on the environment. Cllr Stacy said: “I want to thank the Tribune for highlighting this situation. After your ­story appeared last week, I visited a number of our estates and listened to what residents had to say. “I then had discussions with the chief executive of our housing agency, Homes for Islington, Eamon McGoldrick. We agreed that HfI would switch the heating on for 24 hours until after the cold snap. We would then look again at the entire system of heating.” Cllr Stacy said that residents would be consulted and asked if they wanted 24-hour heating, which might mean higher costs paid for by the council or ­residents. At the Redbrick estate in Finsbury, Sheila Best, vice-chairwoman of the Tenant ­Management Organisation, ­welcomed news of the 24-hour switch-on. She said that young parents with babies, the elderly and the chronically ill were all suffering in the cold spell. “Many can’t afford to run ­electric heaters,” she added. The problems are compounded because half the leaseholders – owners of former council flats – on the estate are being asked to pay for a new communal boiler while the other half get their new system for free after a grant was secured from London Mayor Boris Johnson’s office. Ms Best added: “Our heating was switched off at midnight without any consultation. But we won’t want to pay any more. We’re already paying up to £20 a week for heating that goes off at midnight.” She accused HfI officials of “bullying” tactics and said she would be holding a meeting shortly to find out from residents what they wanted to do. Mother-of-two Lisa Nyamah, who works for the Department of Environment Climate Change office and lives on the estate, said that turning off ­heating at midnight did little to reduce energy as people who could afford it just switched on electric fires. She added: “This was simply a move to cut costs, making the poor and the most vulnerable suffer. It’s Dickensian and my heart went out to any new mother having to get up in the cold in the middle of the night.” Lib Dem councillor Jyoti Vaja is concerned about the lack of consultation when heating was switched from 24 hours to 18 hours. She said: “The ­elderly and people who get up early in the morning need extra heating. The council is doing the right thing by providing extra heating during some of the colder weeks or months. “It could be paid for possibly by switching heating on later in the year rather than increasing bills. We need to do the ­calculations.” PETER GRUNER