'My house is falling down' - mum's prefab nightmare

Residents near a row of homes earmarked for demolition have said conditions inside the properties are "horrendous".

It comes ahead of a meeting on Wednesday, at which councillors are expected to approve a compulsory purchase order for a privately owned, non‑traditional property on Gough Avenue in Wednesfield, Wolverhampton.

The prefabricated homes at numbers 5 to 11 were built in 1954 and have been deemed structurally defective, a council report revealed.

A City of Wolverhampton Council spokesperson said the authority hopes to demolish the structurally linked homes "due to concerns with the ground conditions underneath two of the properties".

During inspections of the vacant homes, officers found that floors on both the ground and first floors of number 11 had significantly settled, sloping towards the wall shared with the neighbouring property at number 9.

For families living nearby, however, the impact of the problems goes far beyond the empty houses.

Rebecca Thomas said: "The house is falling down and we've had problems for three years.

"It's horrendous, and we've been told we can't decorate when we try to fix the cracks in the walls. I just want a decent house for my family - somewhere we can call home."

Another resident, a young mother who did not wish to be named, said she had to repeatedly push for repairs.

"Our stairs had mould and asbestos, but we had to keep fighting to get it fixed," she said.

"When I moved in, it was awful. There were holes in the walls, cracked flooring and mould, and the structure is horrendous. We're paying rent for a reason - we want a safe, decent home for our children."

The homes were built using a Smith non traditional construction system - used to address the post‑war housing shortage - and were typically constructed using steel frames with reinforced concrete panels.

Historical Ordnance Survey maps show the Gough Avenue site was once farmland with a central pond.

The council owns about 200 Smith‑type properties across the city and has been carrying out investigations to determine long‑term repairs or replacement solutions.

Not all residents, however, have experienced problems.

One neighbour, who has lived near to the homes due to be demolished for 31 years, said they had "no problems at all".

Another resident added: "I've had no issues with our prefab house - if anything, it keeps the heating in.

"I'm worried about demolition and what will happen afterwards. I wouldn't want it left as an open field, because that could attract antisocial behaviour."

Elsewhere in the city, a scheme to replace 105 post‑war prefabs in Bushbury and Wednesfield with 111 new energy‑efficient council bungalows and four flats has already begun.

A spokesperson for the council said the work on Gough Avenue was separate from its wider regeneration programme.

"The programme is part of a long-term strategy to ultimately replace or refurbish 4,100 homes across the city that were built by old, non-traditional construction methods," they said.

"Works have so far seen more than 600 homes benefit from retrofitting and the first of 111 new bungalows built to replace 105 post-war prefabs in Bushbury and Wednesfield."

The council added that dedicated teams were in place to resolve tenants' concerns and urged residents to contact them directly.

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