A national charity and seven GP surgeries have called out conditions at the controversial apartment block
Imperial Apartments on Whitchurch Lane, Bristol. (Image: Paul Gillis / BRISTOL LIVE)
Council housing chiefs are ‘considering their options’ over the future of the controversial Imperial Apartments in South Bristol and are reviewing whether or not to continue dealing with housing provider Caridon. The news comes after an open letter penned by homelessness charity Shelter and signed by seven local GP surgeries called out the conditions in the converted office complex, telling the council it was not fit for children to live there.
Bristol City Council has two phased contracts which refer people in need of housing to Imperial Apartments, which is currently run by London-based Caridon. The first contract ends in October this year and the second in March next year.
In late July, the national homelessness charity Shelter, seven local GP surgeries, people living in Imperial Apartments and tenants’ union ACORN were among the signatories to an open letter to Bristol City Council complaining of the conditions. The letter described unsuitable conditions for children, living near other residents with drug, alcohol and mental health issues, while South Bristol midwives told the council the properties it was sending young families to were too small to allow for proper development of babies and toddlers.
Bristol Live first asked Bristol City Council and Caridon about the letter on Friday, August 1, but neither responded. On the morning of Tuesday, August 5, Bristol Live reported the contents of the letter. That week, the city council said it met with Shelter and Caridon to discuss Imperial Apartments, but it still did not respond to Bristol Live’s request for an explanation.
Finally, this week, the council produced a statement attributed to Cllr Richard Eddy, the vice chair of the council’s homes and housing delivery committee. Cllr Eddy is the Tory councillor from Bishopsworth who last month sparked fury for telling a council meeting that he believed a secondary school in Bristol were ‘acting like terrorists’, and he would sooner ‘trust Hamas’ than the school’s leadership.
This month, Cllr Eddy and Cllr Barry Parsons (Green, Easton) have been working together in their role as chair and vice chair of the council’s housing committee, on the issue of Imperial Apartments.
“Last week, Councillor Parsons and I had a constructive meeting at Imperial Apartments with representatives from Caridon and Shelter, as well as senior housing officers from the council,” he said this week.
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“We have done a great deal of work in partnership with Caridon over the last year which has resulted in significant improvements for residents.
“However, we are currently considering our options for when our contracts with Caridon come up for review. No decisions have been made yet, but we value input from our partners, and we’ll carefully consider the letter from Shelter,” he added.
Caridon responded too, this week. The company said it ‘doesn’t recognise’ the picture painted by the Shelter open letter and believes the issues raised by Shelter and the local GPs were historic, prior to improvements made in the past 12 months.
“Caridon works very positively with Bristol City Council and we are responsive to any feedback we receive from residents and all stakeholders on the service we provide,” a spokesperson said.
“We of course sympathise with individual circumstances highlighted in the campaign but we can only comment on our management services which we have invested in heavily over the last 12 months to improve.
(Image: Paul Gillis/Bristol Post)
“In addition to our duties as a landlord we also provide additional services such as gyms, soft play and outdoor play areas and co-working spaces. Our Community Engagement officer offers support to each person living in Imperial Apartments offering regular workshops for education, health, employment and training.
“We are dedicated to working with all stakeholders and residents to ensure our service is maintained and improved and do not recognise the descriptions of the conditions in the apartments set out in the article and the Shelter campaign which we believe are historic issues. Caridon regularly meets with all stakeholders and has offered to meet with Shelter in the near future to address any current concerns,” they added.