Residents kept in dark over repairs to Leamington homes

Orbit Heart of England said the response to complaints from residents of Baxter Court in Leamington “has fallen below our expected standards”.

The problem was highlighted by resident David Hanrahan, who said the light stopped working months ago.

And despite residents making numerous complaints to the housing association’s call centre, they were left frustrated at conflicting answers.

Mr Hanrahan said: “At various times during this saga we have been told ‘We have no record of that request’, ‘That repair has been completed’, ‘As it’s a lamp post we can’t work at that height’, etc.

“The call centre is a dead end as there is no mechanism to escalate a complaint, you cannot be transferred to a supervisor or surveyor.

“The lack of illumination clearly has safety implications. Given our location at this end of town (off Camberwell Terrace), inevitably there are alcoholics and drug users in the area who would see a darkened car park as ideal.

“This poses me further concerns for my daughter returning home. She will often text me from her car asking me to come and meet her, as there are ‘odd’ people hanging around in the car park.”

After the Courier brought the residents’ concerns to the attention of Orbit, property maintenance manager Nick Griffiths said: “We would like to apologise for the problems they have had with the lighting. This has fallen below our expected standards. We are taking steps to respond more promptly to lighting requests .

“The height of the lamp post has made inspection and fitting difficult for our contractor. We have arranged for a sub-contractor to take on this work and are arranging for a cherry picker to attend the site as soon as possible.”