For years, residents at Brooke House have been nagging an out of touch, arrogant Basildon Council to be open and honest with them about the future of their block to no avail. When there was a consultation about the future of the town centre, the council somehow managed to avoid sending consultation forms to any of the residents in Brooke House – a blatant snub if ever there was one. As for maintenance of the block, a quick tour round the public areas is enough to confirm that Basildon Council’s policy is one of blatant neglect although, in private, they might like to refer to this as ‘managed decline’. It’s common knowledge that the council want Brooke House ‘re-developed’ as soon as the right offer comes along and that they couldn’t give a s*** about the residents currently living there.

With the full horror of the fire at Grenfell Tower in West London still to be revealed, it’s understandable that anyone living in a tower block is going to be worried about fire safety issues. While Brooke House doesn’t have cladding that would pose a serious fire risk (the building is listed), there are concerns about escape routes in the block. The damaged and un-repaired stair rails, steps, etc. in the block don’t exactly inspire confidence. If anyone from Basildon Council is reading this, in the next few weeks, in conjunction with our friends at Basildon & Southend Housing Action we intend to undertake our own survey of the public areas of the block and we’ll be publishing our findings here on this blog…

Away from Brooke House over in Laindon at Nursery Gardens, residents have been badgering Basildon Council for years over conditions on the estate and more often than not, are treated with utter contempt. When a resident had issues with a waste pipe from the property above his flooding his home, constant nagging failed to secure a proper, professional decontamination and he had to do the best he could himself. Issues such as repairing broken fences take an inordinate amount of nagging before the council gets of their arses to do anything about them. When residents take matters into their own hand to try and improve matters such as putting up warning signs about speeding in an area where kids are playing, the council gets stroppy and demands the removal of the signs. They don’t seem to care about the risk of a kid being hit by a speeding car but the prospect of a resident produced sign ‘defacing’ the estate is something they are not prepared to tolerate FFS!

We could go on for ever with story after story of situations where Basildon Council have refused to listen to the concerns of their residents and when they do, all too often, the response is one of utter contempt. In the 21st century, is it such an imposition on a local authority that their tenants want decent, safe and secure housing? Simply asking the council for this gets you branded as a nuisance. Enough is enough – the council need to learn some humility, listen to the concerns of their residents, treat them with respect and above all, act on what they hear so people get decent, safe and secure housing. Any local authority that fails in this duty is simply not fit for purpose…