Sheffield tower block: Angry tenant claims council has not cleaned fly-infested bin chute in 60 YEARS

Peter MacLoughlin, aged 79, claims the bin chutes at Robertshaw House, on the Netherthorpe estate in Sheffield, have never been ‘cleaned, disinfected or repaired’ since it was built some 61 years ago.

For close to 35 years, Peter, a former Cabinet Member for Housing at Sheffield City Council, has been a council tenant on the 14th floor, and has battled his fair share of issues.

Lately, the soaring temperatures of the summer have seen ‘obnoxious odours’ of rotting food and nappies omitting from the bin chutes, filling the hallways and engulfing his top-storey flat. According to Peter, the unmaintained concrete-lined chutes have cracked over the years, causing bin bags to catch and rip open, and debris to become lodged within the chute.

Peter says he and his partner have found themselves having to spend money on insect repellents and air fresheners to make ‘daily life more bearable’.

“This lack of cleaning and maintenance is one of the main causes of increased fly and insect infestations, along with the ever obnoxious odours emanating from our refuse chutes,” Peter said.

Since 1988, Peter claims he has been told ‘constantly’ that the city council cannot have a rolling program in cleaning and maintenance work on the refuse bin chutes across their 24 city tower blocks due to ‘financial resources’.

However earlier this year, Sheffield Council scheduled contractor Hardall to carry out cleaning work on Robertshaw House’s refuse bin chutes on March 17 - but the work was not be completed, and has not yet been rescheduled.

In an email seen by the Star, Helen Scott, service manager of estates and environment service teams, confirmed in June that this was due to a ‘lack of a survey being carried out by the contractor’.

Peter said: “This is yet another clear example of SCC’s housing department’s inability at managing these type of works, along with not learning from a string of previous mistakes followed by meaningless apologies.

“This penny wise and pound foolishness isn’t sustainable in the long-term in relation to the ongoing demands towards a crisis-ridden housing revenue account. Not to mention the profound erosion of confidence and trust of many residents towards SCC’s housing department as a landlord.”

Sheffield City Council was approached for comment twice, but The Star did not receive a response.