GAYE Davenport was moved to tears when she described how miserable life is enduring a cold winter while living in a house with no central heating on Ballasalla's Clagh Vane estate.
This has been the coldest winter for many years and while the Island did not get the heavy snowfall of elsewhere in the British Isles, the temperatures did fall, to as low as minus 2.7C on January 1.
Throughout the big freeze Gaye, 51, relied on one coal fire. She has plug-in electric fires, but can't afford to use them much.
'I'm not working, I cannot afford much,' she said. 'I'm on the jobseeker's allowance. I pay £35 a week in electricity. The coal fire does not heat water properly and I've got to back it up with the immersion.'
She lights the coal fire only at night because she can't afford to keep it lit during the day. That would use up to three bags of coal a week, costing up to £60. 'I am trying to get a job,' she said. 'Morale is low because of just trying to keep warm, it is desperate.'
Gaye worries about her two-year-old grandson Cameron returning to a cold house that she also shares with daughter Emma, 20, who is studying at the Isle of Man College and son Warren, 21, an apprentice painter and decorator.
She has developed asthma in recent years caused, she suspects, by the dampness of the house and has had 'flu twice this winter — when she would go to bed fully clothed.
'It's no way to live, not in this day and age,' she said.
The Department of Local Government and the Environment is planning investment into the estate, but that is cold comfort to residents on a chilly February day.
Jill McGrath described how wind blows beneath a gap under her back door, meaning the kitchen is 'absolutely freezing'. She said: 'You have to come in with a hat and coat on into the kitchen to cook.' One bedroom read 3C on the thermometer at 7.30am. Gill said: 'I have gone to bed with a fleece and hat on.'
She said: 'Just before Christmas they put insulation in the loft and cavities. I have not noticed any difference. I cannot understand why they insulated and didn't put heating in. What we need is double glazing on the front and back doors.'
Jill, 45, lives with her two daughters Charlotte, 25, and Hannah, 19. She said: 'Everyone has had enough now, the cold penetrates your jeans.'
Her last electricity bill was £500.
She knows one old couple who sleep in the living room because the bedroom is too cold and damp. Another neighbour, with three young children, redecorated to cover up black patches of damp on the wall, but it just came back again.
Eddie Power lives in a property at the entrance to Clagh Vane that is due to be demolished and replaced with apartments.
Shortly he will move with his wife Maria and son Andrew, seven, to another property — again with no central heating. He is worried about how long it will take.
'It will take six years to sort out this corner, we are talking six, seven or eight years with no heating.'
He has lived in Clagh Vane for several years and said: 'They do not care, they are not looking after properties as well as they did in the 1980s, that's why they go into disrepair; they do not do a good enough job.'
He gave an example and said they replaced the front door four or five years ago with one that cost £50. Loft insulation put in recently helped 'a bit' he said but 'it's the heating they want.'*
He said recently Ballasalla Primary School had been closed when the boiler broke 'a lot of the kids went home to a house that was colder'.
*Editors Note: I Eddie Power did not say a lot of what is printed above, what was said was that minimum maintenance was done for 10 years on the run up to Crossag Farm, which failed at planning etc. since that time maintenance has returned to normal and is a good service, as for the doors I referred to one door recently replaced at number 44 with a £50 wooden door which will be replaced in the near future with a double glazed door. As for moving myself I stated that my family are being moved into a house with central heating we are very lucky. I will admit we do have concerns over the time redevelopment takes not only the work but also the planning applications, financing etc. which could mean no heating for the older part of the estate for sometime.
NEARLY 100 public sector houses in the south have no central heating — 65 are at Clagh Vane and there are 31 on the Janet's Corner Estate in Castletown.
The figures were announced at Tynwald after Malew MHK Graham Cregeen raised the issue and said: 'Some residents are young and have children and it is a concern especially in the cold snap. Coal fires are insufficient for keeping families warm.'
Department of Local Government and the Environment Minister John Shimmin explained the houses are part of major redevelopment proposals and due to be demolished, or redeveloped (in the case of 26 at Clagh Vane) – subject to planning approval.
Loft and cavity wall insulation has been carried out on these properties and new external doors are being considered. Mr Shimmin said once planning is clearer, the department will decide on appropriate expenditure for properties earmarked for demolition.
The DLGE is in a 'catch 22' situation said director of estates and housing Debbie Reeve.
'The properties are fairly old and need to be replaced. We do not want to spend huge amounts of money on properties that are going to be demolished.
'There is no simple answer, we have to work out what we are doing with reasonable cost to make them more comfortable to live in in the short term. We have just come through a very cold and damp winter and people are saying what are we doing to do?'
New doors to the front and rear will be replaced she said. The department is also investigating some 'heating solution, that might not be central', in all of the 56 occupied properties.
The DLGE's engineer is investigating alternatives, such as storage heaters. However, complicating the issue is the fact the village's substation is at capacity.
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