South Tyneside care worker’s misery as repairs to damage caused by Storm Arwen remains ongoing

An apartment block at Westoe Crown Village, in Sea Winnings Way, was damaged when Storm Arwen hit the region at the end of November last year.

Scaffolding, which has been up for five months, means that residents and local businesses are unable to use amenities which they pay a monthly fee for.

Julie Jones, a care worker who often works 12 hour shifts, has expressed her frustration at the lack of progress that the repair work has been making and just wants to see an end to the work.

The 59-year-old said: “It is just so frustrating, we feel that we are in the dark over when the repair work will actually be sorted.

"We’re all disappointed with the situation and the lack of communication and it is only last week that someone has been willing to meet me on behalf of everybody to discuss the situation.

"My job is demanding, I work 12 hours a day and then come home to this – the scaffolding outside my bedroom window creaks in the wind or rain water drips down it all when we have bad weather so it is affecting my sleep.

"Some residents have even reported having children looking in through their first floor windows after they have been climbing up on the scaffolding, it just isn’t safe and someone could get hurt.

"We are paying a service charge for things like window cleaning, gardening work and a private car parking space yet we haven’t been able to have any of this since last year.

"I just want closure for it all as the progress seems to be non-existent as we were told that everything would initially be sorted two months ago but now it is looking like the middle of May.”

The building is managed by Potts Gray, however the freehold is owned by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT), which is responsible for the building work.

The Gazette understands that Potts Gray has been in touch with residents to say it will reimburse some of the service charges, while CRT Property has put the delays in work down to a shortage of materials.

A CRT Property spokesperson said: “We are aware of the issues facing residents at Westoe Crown Village and have been doing all we can to resolve them.

“We sympathise with the disruption they have had to endure which has been down to factors outside of our control – namely the shortage of building materials across the North East following the succession of violent storms over the past few months and the continuing bad weather in recent weeks, which has also delayed repair work due to the unsafe working conditions.

“The repair work should be completed within the next few weeks and we thank residents for their understanding and patience.

“Any residents who have any further queries should continue to deal with these through their own individual landlords.”