'You shouldn't be expected to live like this': In the shadow of a tragedy, the people crying out for a decent place to call home
20.06.2023 - 18:05
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Retired steel worker David Collins points behind a set shelves in the corner of his lounge. "It gets thick with mould down there," he says. "I clean it and paint it myself because it gets bad."
The 68-year-old says there are similar problems in his bedroom in the one-bed flat on Dukinfield's Central estate. "There's cracks in the bricks outside - I think that's where the damp's getting in," he adds.
"As long as I keep cleaning it I'm not that bothered (about the risk of mould), but it shouldn't be my job to keep cleaning it. It should be their [the landlord's] job to sort it out."
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During a day spent on the estate on the outskirts of Dukinfield town centre, the Manchester Evening News found several other tenants were experiencing similar problems. Sharne Whittaker says she's suffered from mould and damp in her one-bed flat in the estate's Lyme Terrace block since moving in eight years ago.
In her bathroom a sizable patch black mould can be seen on the wall around the toilet. "All the wallpaper is peeling off," she said. "They say it's coming from behind the wall, so it's all going to have to come out.
"I'm trying to make it a nice place to live, but every time I do everything just starts peeling off again. There's no chance.
"When it's windy the blinds rattle because of the draughts through the windows. My mate used to live on the bottom floor.
"She had two little children, but she had to move out a couple of months ago. The mould covered the wall in the children's bedroom from floor the ceiling.
"She kept having to replace her son's mattress because of the damp and mould. It was disgusting."
The Central estate, made of up around a dozen brick