Moved out of our Vange home over asbestos (From Echo)

Family: Why did we have to leave Craylands house, when Vange flat has asbestos in it?

9:00am Wednesday 22nd August 2012 in Basildon By Melissa Hills

Asbestos – Lymara and Jamie Nutley with Tyler and Skye

A FAMILY had to be moved out of their home and into a hotel after workmen fitting a boiler discovered asbestos in the walls.

The Nutley family had to leave their flat in South Cockerford, Vange, after contractors spotted the problem.

The family had been moved to the flat from the Craylands estate, as their home there was set to be knocked down as part of the estate’s regeneration plans. However, their old home is still standing.

As the couple moved out of South Cockerford, workmen in white suits moved in to clear the problem.

But Lymara, 22, her husband Jamie, 26, and their two children Tyler, two, and Skye, 14 months, have questioned whether they should have been moved out of the Craylands estate in the first place.

Lymara, 22, said: “I was really shocked when the workmen said they found asbestos in the wall. I was especially worried because we have such young children.

“The pipes in the kitchen had been recently replaced, so the workmen said the asbestos should have been discovered.

“We were moved to a hotel for a few days and the workmen went straight into the flat to get rid of the asbestos.

“My neighbours said it looked like ET had landed outside our flat, because there were white tents up outside while it was all going on.

“We have now got a solicitor looking into the case to see if the housing association knew that the asbestos was there before we moved in.”

The family wish they could have stayed put on the Craylands estate, which is being rebuilt as part of a £250million regeneration scheme.

However, two weeks ago the Echo revealed the project had stalled because of delays in buying up existing properties to then knock them down and build new ones.

There was also a lack of interest from private buyers for homes on the estate, which in turn should create cash to fund further stages of the scheme.

Lymara added: “We were moved from a house in the Craylands estate to this flat and the house we lived in is still up – it was meant to have been knocked down as part of the regeneration plans.

“It’s really annoying, because I would have rather stayed in the house where my children could have had their own bedrooms and a garden.”

David Richardson, assistant director of property and maintenance services at South Anglia Housing, said: “The safety of our residents is our main priority.

“Damage to the wall caused the exposure to the material behind, and as soon as this problem was detected we acted quickly to help the family move into a hotel.

“We appreciate this was a difficult time for the residents involved, and worked quickly to make their home safe so they could move back in after just three days.”

The Nutley family have now returned home to their flat.

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