"What was meant to be a much improved lifestyle in an up-to-date, modern housing estate has been reduced to a life of frightening insecurity in what continues to be a series of highly volatile high-rise tinderboxes..."
At the Manchester May Day Festival on Sunday, there was a panel discussion on Justice, in which Terry Renshaw spoke about the horrendous 47 year fight of the Shrewsbury Pickets to clear their 'criminal' name; Ben Clay talked on behalf of the Tenants Union and its fight to stop 'no fault evictions'; while Ruth London, from Fuel Poverty Action, argued that almost two years after Grenfell little had changed...
Her point was underlined by Graeme Langton, a resident of Malus Court in Pendleton which, along with seven other blocks managed by Pendleton Together and owned by Salford City Council, still has the cladding on, as many residents are subject to a regime of 'threats, intimidation and broken promises' by the authorities.
As Graeme listed the failures under the title of A Nightmare On Ellor Street, the audience laughed and shook their heads in equal measures, some barely believing such events could happen in the wake of Grenfell....a 'Trident' safety report that no-one can see; fire alarms fitted in the wrong place; wrong fire doors fitted; a whole list of repair failures and confusing evacuation procedures, and fire marshals being employed for the blocks at a cost of £25,000 per week, or over £2million so far.
Just as worrying was the lack of action from Salford City Council and the Salford Mayor, and the 'disrespect' shown by Pendleton Together to residents and even Salford MP Rebecca Long-Bailey.
"Today, two years later, City Mayor, Paul Dennett, has not been back to speak with the residents about his failure to remove and replace all the cladding" said Graeme...
"As you will appreciate, I personally and many of my neighbours - feel very far from safe at the moment and with little belief in either Salford City Council, who owns the properties, or Together Housing Group, who manages them under the Pendleton Together P.F.I. contract. We have had so many broken promises..."
And on the management company itself, Graeme added "Their continued failure to address residents' complaints and repairs just goes on and on. How can this situation be allowed to continue? Pendleton Together seem to be untouchable, they certainly think that from their actions or lack of them. They seem answerable to nobody and able to rule with a rod of iron. They operate from Brotherton House, but we now call it Big Brotherton, because they always seem to be watching us and they are the 'Thought Police!"
Graeme concluded "Communications and tenant participation are at an all-time low. What was meant to be a much improved lifestyle in an up-to-date, modern housing estate has been reduced to a life of frightening insecurity in what continues to be a series of highly volatile high-rise tinderboxes..."
The Salford Star has obtained a full copy of Graeme's speech which we re-print below....
A NIGHTMARE ON ELLOR STREET
"One two, Keepmoat botched it for you,
three four, cladding, windows and more,
five six, lies and dirty tricks,
seven eight, Marshals patrol late,
nine ten, never sleep again?" [Sung]
"It's only a dream!" Or is it? We wish it was! For us it has been one long nightmare, a Nightmare on Ellor Street!
Once upon a time in deepest, darkest Lancashire, Salford City Council decided to update and transform their Pendleton Estate by means of a Private Finance Initiative or P.F.I. deal. The housing stock covered by the P.F.I. was to be managed on behalf of the council by Pendleton Together, a newly formed housing management company, part of the Together Housing Group. Work was to be undertaken by the building company Keepmoat, later to be unaffectionately known as 'Cheapmoat'!
The estate followed the route of the old Ellor Street. The new world, after the horrors of a Second World War, was represented in the redevelopment of the Ellor Street area, first approved by the Municipal Borough in 1960. In the words of Albert Jones, the chair of the Council's Planning and Development Committee, "We may be thirty years late, but we are trying now to obliterate 'Hanky Park' as it was known (nicknamed after the main local thoroughfare, Hankinson Street), and propose to make the area something of which we can be proud."
The plan was to clear 89 acres of land in which, according to Jones, "three thousand families lived in slum conditions as bad as any to be found in the country". Few houses had baths and very nearly all had outside toilets.
The form of redevelopment was peculiar to its time. In March 1961, the Council commissioned Sir Robert Matthew, formerly Chief Architect to the London County Council and now Professor of Architecture at Edinburgh University, to act as consultant.
His plan envisaged something far more sweeping than the mere replacement of substandard housing. The project was seen "strategically as a vital part of the regeneration of the industrial north of England"; its aim "to recreate within the Greater Manchester Region a city centre which will make for a high standard of environment in terms of living, shopping and civic affairs, using the latest techniques of planning and development to fit the new centre for the motor age."
As part of our more recent transformation, nine medium and high-rise tower blocks were given new heating systems dependent upon a new cladding and insulation solution for the building. A new, innovative Exhaust Air Heat Exchange Pump System, supposedly inexpensive to run has replaced the dangerous mains gas that has now been removed from all tower blocks on the estate.
All windows were replaced to give more light and to reduce heat loss. New fire retarded doors, sorry, fire retardant doors, "retarded" must have crept in from a reference to something else! New fire retardant doors were fitted to better withstand the heat of a fire and Automatic Opening Vents, A.O.V's, to remove heavy smoke from the stairwells.
More secure entrance doors were fitted together with intercoms using the latest technology. All the blocks were to be clad with a thermal insulated cladding sandwich that was essential to the new air-exchange heating system. And finally, new security gates to replace the old, increasing unreliable gates.
The refurbishment would now offer a safe place where families, elderly people and those with disabilities, in buildings of up to 22 stories high, might live out their lives in warm, cosy homes that have been fully refurbished to the Government's year 2000 Decent Homes Standard. But unlike all those glossy Architect Drawings and extensive plans built on consultations with residents that seemed to promise everything we had hoped for, the awful reality very soon began to reveal itself!
On 14th June 2017, the horror that was the Grenfell Tower fire took place and a darkness descended over residents of tower blocks across the country, who worried if their blocks were covered in the same flammable cladding as Grenfell.
Enter stage left Pendleton Together (Together Housing), Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett, Deputy Mayor, John Merry and Salford MP Rebecca Long-Bailey - all eager to publicly demonstrate their horror at this new, potentially life-threatening situation and genuine sadness at the loss of so many lives. This was immediately followed by promises to remove all of the, what had been discovered to be, highly dangerous cladding as soon as possible.
Salford Mayor, Paul Dennett immediately met with residents of the affected blocks to reassure us that this cladding would be removed and replaced as soon as possible. He promised an expert survey would be carried out to evaluate the state of the problems with each of the blocks and that the resulting report would be shared with residents as soon as it was completed. This report became unofficially known as the 'Trident Report', after the name of the company undertaking the survey.
Today, two years later, City Mayor, Paul Dennett has not been back to speak with the residents about his failure to remove and replace all the cladding. City leaders are adamant that there is no Trident Report for residents to see. Only the first three floors of all nine blocks have had their cladding removed, but replaced with temporary cement boards, to mitigate the risk from low level vehicle fires. The blocks look like the kid who forgot his trainers for P.E., and had to wear a really naff pair from the lost property box!
Only one of the smaller, medium-rise blocks has had all its cladding removed. This was done in the period leading up to Christmas and it not only left the block without the vital insulation it needed to keep the homes warm and for the heating system to operate effectively, but it also left all the window framework jutting out from the wall. Removing the cladding caused water to seep into flats over winter when it rained. This revealed that the windows had not originally been made independently watertight. Residents were offered some financial recompense for their inconvenience - provided they applied for it!
The residents of the remaining 8 blocks are still in a state of limbo and at risk. Several safety measures have been put in place to bridge this vacuous state, with the employment of Fire Marshals, who patrol the blocks and grounds continuously 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year. The weekly cost for this service? Approximately £25,000! The Fire Marshals are armed with air horns or Klaxons to sound as an instruction to evacuate the building in the event of a fire.
Fire Alarms have now been fitted on every floor, as previously we were instructed to stay put in the event of a fire and the fire alarm was silent. However, the Fire Marshals are needed because most residents cannot hear the new Fire Alarms! This is because the alarms were fitted in the stairwells on every landing. We are told they are as loud as regulations allow them to be. However, this is not the issue. They are in the wrong place! The sound has to pass through at least TWO fire doors to get to residents in their flats. Duh! Pendleton Together have been told of this multiple times and by numerous residents. Yet, there have been no changes!
As you will appreciate, I personally and many of my neighbours feel very far from safe at the moment and with little belief in either Salford City Council, who owns the properties, or Together Housing Group, who manages them under the Pendleton Together P.F.I. Contract. We have had so many broken promises;
"Some persons make promises for the pleasure of breaking them." - William Hazlitt.
Alongside all this stands a long list of failures to address repairs and the replacement of gates, doors and windows, outstanding from the poor standard of refurbishment work carried out by Keepmoat under the P.F.I. deal that are still to be corrected. We understand litigation is taking place over who should pay for these corrections, but residents should not be inconvenienced because of it. Repairs and restorative work should be undertaken and the argument over who pays determined in due course. We have been put out enough!
Just one of these is that many new window frames and their opening/locking mechanisms are faulty. Instead of replacing the windows that are clearly not fit for purpose, the onus is being put on residents who are being instructed by Pendleton Together not to fully open the windows, but only have them on "vent". They have been instructed not to open the Juliet balcony doors on pain of attracting a Tenancy Warning for any infringement.
One female resident, the mother of a disabled child with breathing problems, was awarded such a written warning, but this was later rescinded following the intervention of her social worker, who had been present at the time of the incident and was a witness. What would or could have happened otherwise?
Many other residents, including myself, have experienced a similar regime of threats, intimidation and over-zealous enforcement from Pendleton Together for making legitimate complaints. Residents are not the only people to receive this level of disrespect. Our MP, Rebecca Long Bailey, who wanted to arrange meetings to investigate mounting concerns from residents was ignored and disrespected. This resulted in her request having to be escalated to Council and Mayor level to get answers from Pendleton Together.
Their continued failure to address residents' complaints and repairs just goes on and on. How can this situation be allowed to continue? Pendleton Together seem to be untouchable, they certainly think that from their actions or lack of them. They seem answerable to nobody and able to rule with a rod of iron. They operate from Brotherton House, but we now call it Big Brotherton, because they always seem to be watching us and they are the 'Thought Police'!
After Grenfell, the Fire Evacuation instructions were changed from "Stay put in your flat" to "Full evacuation - with one central assembly point near the Housing Office at one end of the estate." For many elderly or infirm residents to walk that distance, up to 0.38 of mile, would be impossible at any time let alone under evacuation conditions and potentially wearing very little!
However, a minor fire broke out recently in the Bin Room of a nearby block. Confusion reigned as some residents were evacuated, while many on the upper floors were seen standing at their windows uncertain of what was required as no klaxons had been sounded on their landing by any Fire Marshals. Certainly not a glowing endorsement of the Fire Evacuation Procedures under the circumstances and all the money being spent on the Fire Marshals themselves!
One resident who lives on the ground floor of the block in question has several disabilities, but was just ignored by those who should have known about him from the Fire Evacuation Risk document held in a metal cabinet located in the entrance to the building. When he became aware of people standing around on the grass outside he came to the front door, looked around, and then went back to bed. No Marshals tried to direct him to a place of safety. Later, when questions were asked about this, residents were told "we only evacuate the floors above and below the fire." In one of the resident Newsletters produced by Pendleton Together the evacuation was given a glowing report and it stated that everything had gone according to plan, but a few items needed further thought.
To date residents have yet to be told of this complete change to the Fire Procedures. We are supposed to go to Pendleton Gateway, a library and medical centre, opposite "Big Brotherton", as a muster point. This is not feasible for some residents, who are disabled or elderly, who could not walk that far. Even if people reach the Assembly Point, there is nowhere to sit, no toilet facilities, nowhere to get hot beverages to keep you warm or combat shock and no blankets to keep you warm either. You would just be stood there in the open air, for how long who knows? Probably until Pendleton Together staff arrived, if out of hours. We have told them this is not acceptable again and again. One of the slogans that came out of Grenfell was; "Residents die when landlords don't listen"!
All in all it has to be said that from the days leading up to the start of the P.F.I. contract when there was an award winning, high level of cooperative working between the landlord and the residents, the quality of life has fallen a long way due to Pendleton Together's overly draconian estate-management style and residents' trust in them has become seriously affected.
Communications and tenant participation are at an all-time low. What was meant to be a much improved lifestyle in an up-to-date, modern housing estate has been reduced to a life of frightening insecurity in what continues to be a series of highly volatile high-rise tinderboxes.
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