Fears over safety of council homes built on clay

Councillor Howard Smith represents the Park Barn area and wants to see the 35 houses fixed

Families living in an area of Surrey where 35 council-owned houses have been left empty due to subsidence say they do not feel safe in their own homes.

The houses in the Park Barn area of Guildford have been affected by subsidence because of the clay in the ground they were built on.

Tibor Kisjakab, who lives next to one of the abandoned properties with his partner and step-son, said: "It's not very safe, you can see everywhere there are cracks on the building, they put scaffolding up but since summer no-one has come to do anything."

Guildford Borough Council said it was working hard to ensure its tenants lived in high quality homes and was committed to increasing the number of council homes.

Some of the properties have been boarded up and have scaffolding on them

Mr Kisjakab said the council must act as quickly as possible to ensure the houses in Roundhill Way and Foxburrows Avenue are made safe.

"It's a very long time it looks like this, I don't know when they'll repair it, it's going to fall down," he said.

Councillor Howard Smith, who represents the Park Barn area and is also the mayor of Guildford, said the council must fix the problem which was "dragging down the neighbourhood".

"These are places where people could live, so we want the council to make a decision, get cracking, get these back into use one way or the other," he said.

"We've got over 2,000 people on the council housing waiting list, waiting for somewhere to live, and these properties we need to sort out."

Cracks running down the side of one of the houses

Council leader Julia McShane said the condition of the properties was also due to their shallow foundations and age.

"Earlier this year, the council approved the Westborough and Park Barn Better Homes Programme," she said.

"We're focussed on an area of 600 to 1,000 homes, around 60% of which are council owned.

"Options may include upgrading some council properties, redevelopment opportunities, and changes to public spaces."