THURROCK Council has investigated reports of mould blighting people’s council homes and has concluded they are “relatively uncommon.”

In a report to the housing and overview scrutiny committee the council said an analysis of repairs date for the last two years showed damp and mould repairs represented only 4.1 per cent of the total number of repairs to council properties.

Nevertheless, this still represented 1,123 council owned properties that required remedial work for this issue. This equates to 11.4 per cent of housing stock.

The report said the council had been wrongly accused by the media of being responsible for unacceptable living conditions in some council properties.

The report said: “Damp and mould and its impact has recently been widely reported by the media. There has been an indication that the number of cases are high and the council are slow to respond. However, housing repairs data demonstrates that the reality is in fact quite different.

“The position reported by the media has been challenged and statements have been retracted on this basis. Every case that has been reported in the media has been thoroughly investigated.”

The report adds: “Of the 19 cases reported, four were not council housing tenants. All the cases that did relate to council owned properties had remediation works planned or already completed. The investigation showed that in seven of these cases the remediation works were delayed because the tenants did not allow access.

“Five of the cases were further delayed due to the tenants involvement with “no win no fee” solicitors.”

The council added condensation of warm, humid air onto cool walls was the single biggest cause of damp and mould issues within its housing stock. It is working with residents to manage condensation through adequate heating and ventilation.

Councillors will discuss the issue June 22.