'Our disabled son has waited years for a bathroom'

Ayla has to carry her 12-year-old son Robbie, who has multiple disabilities after contracting meningitis, upstairs for a bath

The family of a disabled child say they have been driven to despair by a three-year wait for vital adaptations to their council house.

Twelve-year-old Robbie, from Boston, Lincolnshire, is non-verbal, non-mobile and has to be carried upstairs to the bathroom.

His mother, Ayla, was promised a ground-floor extension would be built with a wheelchair-friendly bedroom and wet room, but the work has yet to begin.

Boston Borough Council, which owns the property, described the delay as "regrettable" and said it was working to resolve the matter.

Ayla moved from a flat to the house with her children and partner to provide better care for Robbie, who contracted meningitis as a toddler.

He is partially blind and deaf and has to be fed through a tube.

'Terrible strain'

Robbie sleeps in the dining room and Ayla has to carry him up the stairs to bath him.

When they moved in, the council promised the extension would be built within a year, she said.

After a long wait, work had been due to start last Monday, only for it to be cancelled at the last minute due to a boundary dispute.

“It’s been so hard living like this for the past three years,” Ayla said.

"I’d rather have struggled in the old property. I think I’ve been patient enough.

"At the moment, I’m having to lift Robbie up the stairs to give him a bath. The strain on my back is terrible."

Ayla says a new bathroom would prevent her having to carry Robbie up and down the stairs

She added: “His bedroom is what should be my dining room. It means we don’t have a table to eat at. We have to eat in the living room on the sofa.

"If my other kids want to paint or draw we have to do it on the floor.

“I feel angry and frustrated that I’m having to live like this.”

The council acknowledged the "regrettable delay" in building work starting on "this family’s much-needed extension".

Councillor John Baxter, who is responsible for housing, said: "Unfortunately, a matter relating to land ownership and boundaries has arisen

"To address this concern, revised applications are being prepared."

The council remained "committed to supporting families in need" and would "continue to work diligently to resolve this matter promptly", he added.

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