Flats uninhabitable after flood, says councillor

A high-rise block of flats will be "uninhabitable" for about three months after a "major" flood, a leader of a council said.

Brooke House in Basildon, Essex, was hit by flooding on 18 July which left 10 households having to move into alternative accommodation.

Images on social media showed cars partly submerged in water and water levels almost up to knee height in some parts of the building.

Gavin Callaghan, a Labour councillor and the leader of Basildon Borough Council, said: "That building is uninhabitable and it is not likely to be inhabited for the next three months."

Workers from Essex and Suffolk Water and Morgan Sindall Property Services attended the block of flats to help with the leak and flooding, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The Grade II-listed building, which is 14 storeys, was built in the 1960s and has 84 flats.

Basildon Borough Council, which owns the block, agreed to fund a £16m regeneration of the site in June 2022.

In a Facebook live video, Callaghan added: "Now unfortunately we've had a major flood with Brooke House in the basement and that has damaged the electrics in the building."

He insisted the council would carry out its proposed revamp to ensure it was "safe as possible for people to live in and raise their families in".

"I do not look at Grenfell and think that's a good idea, let's try and repeat that, I look at it and say how do we make these buildings as safe as possible for people to live in and raise their families in," he added.

The renovation included a ground-floor extension to a new entrance, upgrades to its roof, fire escapes, CCTV, insultation, cladding and windows.

The council relocated residents before the work could begin.

"Right now, thanks to 25 years of chronic underinvestment in that building, it requires a £16m investment from the council and it requires a bit of structural work to be done as a consequence of this flood," Callaghan added.

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