Barton House residents fear for future after safety concerns

Fatima Bashir said residents were traumatised by the eviction

Residents evacuated from a Bristol tower block amid safety concerns claim they will be left homeless if they do not return.

More than 250 people were forced to leave Barton House on 14 November, with the council declaring a major incident due to structural concerns.

The tenants have been told it is safe to return by 23 February, but many still feel the building is unsafe.

Bristol City Council said the residents' fears were "speculation".

The authority is continuing to carry out work to make the building safe.

One resident, Fatima Bashir, said: "They said if you refuse to go back, you're making yourself voluntarily homeless.

"They said this building might collapse. It was deemed unsafe and now it's safe - it doesn't make sense to us."

A group from Barton House have marched to City Hall in Bristol demanding to be rehoused.

The residents have been protesting over their plight

Ms Bashir explained a lot of the residents feel unsafe because of the way they were evacuated from their homes without notice, despite the council being aware of the structural issues more than a year before the eviction.

Last month Bristol mayor Marvin Rees said the building was "safer than we thought back in November, but not yet safe for residents to return".

Barton House residents plan to march every day until the council responds to their demands

Following work on the block, residents are gradually being asked to move back in.

Sam Kidel, Bristol head organiser of the housing union Acorn, said: "There are kids who are newly bed-wetting, there are kids on new anxiety medication, kids not eating and not sleeping because they fear going back to Barton House."

Barton House was declared unsafe by Bristol City Council

Ms Bashir said residents have requested an independent investigation and to see the initial report on the building, which was promised by the end of January but had not yet arrived.

She said the council told tenants if they do not return by 23 February, they will not look after them any further.

"The council need to sit down with us families and we need to somehow talk about this whole thing and hopefully find a solution for it," she added.

Sam Kidel said residents involved in similar evacuations had received offers of being rehoused

Mr Kidel explained Acorn was calling for residents to get compensation and for those "too traumatised to return" to be rehoused.

He said the council "could have made a plan to avoid this, but they ended up scrambling together a chaotic evacuation".

Families want to be rehomed instead of moving back into the tower block

He said the council knew about the structural issues more than a year before the evacuation, adding: "We just want to sit down with council leaders and have a frank conversation and negotiation.

"That doesn't seem unreasonable to me."