A HOUSING association has again come under major criticism from a Waverley councillor over the state of one of its flats.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Hale and Heath End Willy Marshall has described Thames Valley Housing Association as "absolutely atrocious" after one of its tenants revealed the state of her flat.

Charlotte Bray, who lives at Hillcrest in Heath End, has fungus growing out of her damp walls and mildew in her bed has forced her to start sharing a sofa-bed with her five-year-old son Joseph, whom she claims is prone to infections because of their living conditions.

Miss Bray claims despite frequent complaints, the housing association has not properly addressed the problems.

"I've been on to them for years. It's been particularly bad for the last three years. My son and I share a sofa-bed. There's fungus in his bedroom, all growing out of the walls, and my bed's black with mildew.

"I've had three surveyors (from Thames Valley Housing Association) out here and one of them just put a jacket on the boiler.

"My son keeps getting ear infections and colds and I've told my doctor I think it's because of all this."

In a statement, Thames Valley Housing Association says it is aware of Miss Bray's problems and apologises it has taken so long to sort them out.

The statement says the housing association's surveyors have visited Miss Bray's property "a number of times" in the last four years and carried out various works, including the lagging of her boiler and the temporary installation of a dehumidifier. But it concedes these measures have not worked.

Thames Valley says the block of flats at Hillcrest needs "a number of major repairs" which they expect to make in the summer.

"This will be a major investment to bring these 1970s flats up to modern standards. We expect these works to provide a permanent solution to the damp problems at Hillcrest," reads the statement.

Thames Valley also says it has written to and telephoned Miss Bray "a number of times" to try to arrange an appointment to install a dehumidifier, to discuss repairs and to offer a £10 weekly electricity allowance for running the dehumidifier, but she has not responded.

But a plumber did visit her flat last week and fitted further lagging to her pipes.

But the housing association's words have done little to reassure Willy Marshall, who is aware of Miss Bray's problems and has taken up fellow Hillcrest residents' complaints before.

"I've had a one-man battle with them," he said. "A big problem is that they run a call centre in Twickenham and you can never get any proper decision made. Another problem is that they never clean the gutters out.

"I've had their director of housing, Tracey Lees, and Waverley's director of housing, David January, down there. They've told me they get money from the Housing Corporation and they're under pressure to build houses, which leaves no money for maintenance.

"In my view they're too big and they've got a lot of poorly maintained housing stock like those of old Labour councils in the north and the Midlands. A lot of Thames Valley tenants would be better off if they were living in homes run by the council.

"Waverley can't do a lot because Thames Valley is a private non-profit-making company and they can only be brought to book if they break the law or breach environmental health laws."