Greensquare residents in Chippenham have been without heat or hot water for ten days - and say they have been told to 'boil a kettle' instead.

Amongst them is a heavily pregnant woman with a young child, and elderly people.

Chippenham's MP Michele Donelan has now jumped in, saying: "Living in October with no heating is not only cruel, but is potentially dangerous to their health – especially in the midst of a respiratory pandemic.

"Some residents have electric showers but some do not - the answer I was told earlier is to “boil a kettle!”.

"This has left residents unable to wash or maintain basic hygiene – again, an appalling prospect during a pandemic."

She has now reported the company to the under secretary for housing Kelly Tolhurst and has contacted Wiltshire Council. "GreenSquare have a duty of care to their residents and both with regard to The Oaks, Neeld Crescent and other properties, they are failing on that duty of care. Quite simply, this cannot go on," she said.

"When I first requested that GreenSquare offer alternative accommodation I was told this isn’t the policy and they won’t make an exception. I have repeatedly raised several cases over the years to GreenSquare but enough is enough. Residents living in social housing shouldn’t receive second rate care from their landlord compared to those in the private sector.

"At first GreenSquare were not even providing plug-in heaters to residents without heating, but I believe some have now distributed. It is completely unacceptable for a housing association to operate this way and our community can no longer be expected to wait quietly for yet more GreenSquare promises to be broken. "

GreenSquare says it's core purpose is to be a brilliant landlord, providing homes for rent and shared ownership for those who cannot afford to meet their housing needs in the open market.

They operate properties across Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, and Gloucestershire.

Greensquare residents in Chippenham have been without heat or hot water for ten days - and say they have been told to ‘boil a kettle’ instead. 
Amongst them is a heavily pregnant woman with a young child, and elderly people.
Chippenham’s MP Michele Donelan has now jumped in, saying:  “Living in October with no heating is not only cruel, but is potentially dangerous to their health – especially in the midst of a respiratory pandemic. 
“Some residents have electric showers but some do not - the answer I was told earlier is to “boil a kettle!”. 
“This has left residents unable to wash or maintain basic hygiene – again, an appalling prospect during a pandemic.”
She has now reported the company to the under secretary for housing Kelly Tolhurst and has contacted Wiltshire Council. “GreenSquare have a duty of care to their residents and both with regard to The Oaks, Neeld Crescent and other properties, they are failing on that duty of care. Quite simply, this cannot go on,” she said. 
“When I first requested that GreenSquare offer alternative accommodation I was told this isn’t the policy and they won’t make an exception. I have repeatedly raised several cases over the years to GreenSquare but enough is enough. Residents living in social housing shouldn’t receive second rate care from their landlord compared to those in the private sector. 
“At first GreenSquare were not even providing plug-in heaters to residents without heating, but I believe some have now distributed. It is completely unacceptable for a housing association to operate this way and our community can no longer be expected to wait quietly for yet more GreenSquare promises to be broken. “
GreenSquare says it’s core purpose is to be a brilliant landlord, providing homes for rent and shared ownership for those who cannot afford to meet their housing needs in the open market.
They operate properties across Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, and Gloucestershire. 
Rachel Crownshaw, customer director at GreenSquare, said:
“We realise how difficult this situation is for the customers impacted and I want to apologise unreservedly for the obvious inconvenience. I also want to confirm this has had our highest priority attention since we became aware of the situation.
“Our engineers have been working hard to resolve both boiler faults since they were identified, including ordering the necessary parts from suppliers. We are on track to restore these services next week and will continue to keep customers – and the local MP – updated.
“In the meantime our customer services team have been contacting those living in the flats affected and have provided temporary heaters to all those who have wanted them. We have also committed to reimburse customers for the additional cost of using temporary heaters during this period, whether their own or ones we have provided. 
“No one has taken up the offer of alternative accommodation but we are ready and willing to support customers to do so if necessary.
“We operate a 24-hour out of hours service to enable us to respond to any emergency, which includes loss of heating or hot water; therefore the suggestion that our services and our ability to respond to customer needs are somehow limited to office hours is misinformed. 

“Our 24-hour emergency service has remained in place throughout the pandemic and will continue to operate regardless of whether the government announces a second national lockdown. I want to assure customers that resolving emergency issues such as these will remain a priority for GreenSquare at this uncertain time.”