“It’s heartbreaking” – residents on Little London estate having ‘nightmares’ about mould

She suffers from sinus problems which she says are from using caustic chemicals to clean the mould from her window frames, ceiling and skirting boards, in an attempt to make her home safe for her two-year-old grandson, Oliver.

Denise, a former prison worker, is one of the residents leading the fight to demand decent living standards from a number of landlords who own homes on the estate.

She has lived in her home, overlooking two blocks of derelict houses for almost eight years, and is the chair of Big Power for Little London, a residents’ group set up this year in a bid to better conditions for those living on the estate.

Denise hopes that one day, the derelicts will be demolished, and a community green space built in its place.

The flat roof houses, made of porous concrete, were not built to last the 80 years they have stood in Maltby.

They were built during the Second World War to house workers in a nearby munitions factory who moved up from Enfield in London.

“When we moved in, we were told there were plans to get it sorted out, and it’s never materialised,” says Denise.

“It’s just so depressing. It’s causing all of us mental health issues and depression – it’s affecting children.”

Denise points to a wooden fence with panels missing that leads to the derelicts, which is what the residents call two blocks of empty homes, used as a goal for football-playing children.

“The kids play football there because they’ve nowhere else to play. If they kick the ball and it goes over, the kids are going round the back of here, where there are rats and glass.”

After her son told her that he did not want to raise his child in the area, Denise felt that she needed to take action.

“He said, ‘mum, I’m not bringing Oliver up round here, I’m not having him thinking that this is all he’s worth’. It was a bit of an eye-opener. It shook my world.

“If ever it’s going to get sorted out, it’s now.”

Arron Fuller lives in his home opposite the derelicts with his two sons and his army sergeant-turned-paramedic wife.

He predicts he has killed around 17 rats in the last year in his home, which he says comes from the derelicts.

Arron, who works in construction, said: “There are some really good people on this estate.

“The problem is people drive down here, see this forgotten bunch of people, look at [the derelicts] and automatically assume that we’re all scum. We’re all druggies, we’re all wasters. And nothing could be further from the truth.

He adds that his five-year-old son, Logan, ‘doesn’t know any different’.

“As far as he’s concerned, he lives in a war zone. It shouldn’t be that way. We’re the second richest country in Europe.”

There is a burgeoning sense of optimism on the estate that has been missing for the last ten years.

“For a long long time, until we started campaigning, nothing was done on this estate. People have had shockingly bad mould, leaking roofs, windows that weren’t sealed,” added Arron.

“Since we’ve got together, with Big Power for Little London, we’re building the community spirit,” said Denise.

“I didn’t talk to nobody round here for eight years. It’s only when I got involved in this and we all got together, we realised we’re all professionals and decent people.

“So we’re making it our fight to stay here, in a lovely community and make it better rather than just moving off again, which deteriorates communities, ”

The Big Power for Little London Group is hosting a film screening on March 19, highlighting the conditions on the estate, at 6pm.

In 2016, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council attempted to buy 24 properties from landlord Rivergrove, which owns 64 of the 138 properties on Little London, including 11 derelicts.

Council documents from the time show that prior to boarding up the derelicts, Rivergrove ‘received public funding (from the Department of Energyand Climate Change’s Green Deal Home Improvement Fund 2014/5 to apply thermally insulated external wall cladding.’.

The work was completed in compliance with funding conditions in the Spring of 2015, in preparation for full refurbishment, which was proposed to take place in July 2015.

Following conversations with Rivergrove in October 2015, it was thought by the council that arrangements had been made with utility companies and contractors to have a rolling refurbishment contract start in early 2016.

However, no works were carried out, according to RMBC.

Rivergrove Limited submitted a planning application to demolish eight maisonettes on Churchill Avenue in October 2023, to make way for 15 new homes, which is still under consideration.

Recently, Councillor Adam Tinsley who represents the Maltby ward, called for action at a full council meeting of RMBC.

He told the public meeting that RMBC had tried to use its compulsory purchase powers to buy the homes – but had ‘failed’.

The sale of the derelict properties did not go ahead because the council’s offer was “not financially viable and would not cover our costs”, Jacob Moshe Grosskopf, a director of Rivergrove, told the Guardian last year.

Chris Read, leader of Rotherham Council, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that RMBC is working with residents for a long-term solution.

He added that additional property inspections, along with measures to tackle rats are ongoing, but recognises these are short-term fixes.

“It can’t be acceptable that we have landlords in 2024 who expect their tenants to live in damp, cold, mouldy conditions, some of which have been shown to be demonstrably unsafe.

“It’s just wrong that anyone is profiting from having people living in those conditions. Some of the things I’ve now seen there are genuinely shocking and the presence of the large unoccupied block in the middle of the estate is intolerable.

“Sadly efforts to improve the area over many years – while they have made changes – have not brought it up to an acceptable standard. The council did make efforts back in 2016, which did help to bring some of the properties back into use and some additional insulation was put in place.

“With additional property inspections and measures to tackle rats and vermin in the shorter term, we’re working with the residents to attempt to bring forward the longer-term solutions they so clearly need.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service’s attempts to contact Rivergrove were unsuccessful.

However, Mr Grosskopf told the Guardian Newspaper in November 2023 that Rivergrove is a responsible landlord that has invested “hundreds of thousands of pounds … over the years to improve the living standards of the tenants”.

He says reported issues are “dealt with in an efficient manner and we are not aware of any long-term outstanding complaints”.

He said Rivergrove’s local letting agent “works closely with Rotherham metropolitan borough council environmental health team. We have received no notices of any defects with the properties we own and continue to fulfil our maintenance obligations when either reported by tenants or noted on property inspections.”