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Legal eagle called to help residents’ fight their corner

16/ 5/2008

ANGRY residents in a block of flats for the elderly are seeking legal help to fight the regeneration work they claim is dangerous and "ugly".

Residents have been battling for weeks against the installation of six inch high stages in several flats at Butler Court, Miles Platting.

At loggerheads with the Renaissance Consortium, who are handling the court's regeneration, resident Tommy Holt is now approaching a solicitor to take the residents' complaints further.

They feel the design - placed in front of the living room window - poses a trip hazzard and prevents the disabled from even looking out or closing their curtains.

Safe

But the Consortium state that the platform is safe and that they will include a hand rail at request to help less able residents on to the raised area.

"I'm contacting a solicitor to write to Renaissance on my behalf" said Tommy, 71. "One of the other residents is currently in hospital after falling over the two-inch lip in her front door. If people are injuring themselves over something that small, what chance do they have with a six-inch stage in their living rooms?"

To add to the residents' upset, large metal rails that stretch across the windows are now being installed on top of the stages as "a safety measure and a requirement of Building Regulations" according to Renaissance.

One resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "There is no way I'm having that ugly thing in my living room."

Both the stages and metal rails are being installed in flats where the owner has asked to have their living room floors extended.

A spokesman for Renaissance said: "When initial consultations were held at Butler Court last October and residents were offered the option to extend their living rooms, there was a presentation to residents which included detailed illustrations showing how homes would look if they opted to have the balcony area incorporated into the living room.

"The illustrations showed the slightly raised flooring area and metal rail."

Contrary to this, Mr Holt claims residents were never told about the metal rails and says it was never made clear what these stages would be like.

"We just agreed to having our rooms extended, we were not made aware that these rails were going to be installed," he said. "We only became aware when the first ones appeared."