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A man has told of how he decided to sleep in his garden shed because “it was warmer than in his house” after being left without central heating in his council house for four weeks. 

Eddie Sweetman, 52, lives in one of six bungalows owned by Woking Borough Council that has been left without central heating since early September. The residents of Wilson Way in Horsell include elderly people and some with serious illnesses and disabilities, many of which have been exacerbated by the lack of warmth since their communal boiler broke down.

A former fairground worker, he has had to stop working because he suffers from curvature of the spine and breathing difficulties, SurreyLive reports. These problems are made worse in cold weather, and his home has been so cold in recent weeks that he has avoided it altogether. He spends the days out and about to keep moving so that his joints don’t seize up, and has been sleeping in his shed at night because it is easier to heat with a temporary electric heater.

“They just don’t care,” he said of the council. “They’re always quick to be in touch if they want our money, but when we need services from them there is no communication. We’ve just been left to get on with it.”

Eddie’s attitude towards the council was shared by other residents. Shirley Willesden, 88, has lived in her bungalow for 28 years and had never experienced significant maintenance issues until the past month. She suffers from severe arthritis, which she describes as “eye-wateringly painful”, and which prevents her from standing up straight. She relies on the heat in her home to help relieve her symptoms, she said.

According to Shirley, the boiler first broke one evening in early September following a brief power cut, and she called Woking Borough Council to report the issue the following day. The council had taken over responsibility for maintaining the properties from a housing association earlier this year.

Shirley says she was initially told that the issue would be resolved in three to four weeks, which she said was not acceptable as some of her neighbours suffer from even more serious health issues than her, and one of the households has young children. She claims there was subsequently no communication from the council unless the residents initiated it themselves, and the estimated timescale for the problem to be resolved kept being extended.

She said: “We were told at one stage that it would take up to 12 weeks to get a new boiler, which would have taken us to December. How long can we carry on for, feeling cold? I never thought we would be treated like this, with so little communication from the council.”

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While they waited for the boiler to be repaired, residents were offered small electric fan heaters to use, but Shirley and Eddie both said that these were relatively ineffective at providing heat and use up a lot of electricity, which could have a serious impact on their energy bills. The properties have had access to hot water by using immersion heaters, but these also use up a lot of energy, the residents say. 

Although Shirley claims to have received some verbal assurances over the telephone that compensation would be available for any residents whose bills rose as a result of having to use electric heaters, she claims she did not receive any details about what this would entail and she says it was never put in writing. As SurreyLive visited the residents on Friday (September 30), an engineer was seen attending the site but left after about five minutes and the problem was not resolved.

Later that day Councillor Ian Johnson, Woking Borough Council’s Portfolio Holder for Housing, said: “We are extremely sorry that residents of Wilson Way have been without a fully functional central heating system since September 2. The delays have been caused by difficulties sourcing a replacement boiler and associated parts.

“All residents have been offered portable electric heaters and the council will compensate tenants for any additional costs incurred. We continue to work closely with our repairs contractor, Mountjoy, to expedite obtaining the relevant parts, and we anticipate the installation will be complete by Monday, October 3 at the latest.”

SurreyLive checked back with Shirley on Wednesday, October 5, ton confirm whether the heating had now been restored. She said that it started working again on Tuesday afternoon, but then experienced further problems which an engineer had since been working to resolve.

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