Standard of repairs carried out by Clarion Housing in Mid Sussex branded 'appalling'

Clarion Housing came in for a verbal battering during a meeting of the district council on Wednesday (December 7)

Gary Marsh (Con, Ardingly & Balcombe) got the ball rolling by describing a situation in which he said a family from Crawley Down had approached Clarion for help with mould only to be told it would be three weeks before anyone could come out to them.

Mr Marsh praised the council’s own housing team for the help they offered to the family, which included a three-year-old with asthma.

He asked Rachel Cromie, cabinet member for housing & customer services: “Can I ask you to kick some proverbial with Clarion and say three weeks is unacceptable?”

A spokesman for Clarion said 100 new staff were being hired to help prevent and treat damp and mould in people’s homes.

Ms Cromie told the meeting: “I think most councillors here will have had a negative experience working with the housing association.

“We already have a date in the diary to bring them in to ask them some questions.”

She invited councillors to submit their own questions to take to the housing association.

Simon Hicks (Lib Dem, Burgess Hill – Leylands) hit out at Clarion’s ‘appalling repair service’ and warned that tenants were in ‘a dangerous position’ due to repairs not being carried out ‘for months or for years’.

A spokesman for Clarion Housing said: “We note the comments made during the council meeting this week and look forward to discussing these issues directly with those concerned.

“We work closely with our residents’ elected representatives and will continue to do so to ensure our residents’ needs are met.

“Clarion carries out around 1,300 repairs per day.

“We are reviewing all existing reported cases of condensation, damp and mould to determine what additional interventions can be made to resolve the issues, including referring cases to specialist surveyors.

“This winter, to enable early identification of problems, we are also increasing our investment in humidity and ventilation monitoring devices.

“In addition to this, we have announced this week that we are hiring 100 new members of staff to help prevent and treat damp and mould in our homes.”