Residents have spoken at their frustration at being left without equipment
Residents at Mill View Tower, Dingle. Photo by Colin Lane(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
People living in a tower block tarnished by vandalism and disorder face a continued “desperate” wait for their lifts to be fixed despite multiple pleas for help. Mill View Tower in Dingle has provided housing in L8 since the 1960s.
The 16-storey block, consisting of 64 flats, has been plagued with issues for months amid damage to the stairwell and the lifts being out of order. Such is the length of time the equipment has been out of service, residents took it upon themselves to raise the money needed to get them fixed.
Concerns were raised about conditions inside the block almost a decade ago according to Liverpool Council, with temperatures inside considered to potentially be a risk to tenants’ health. This led to a letting agent being convicted on 13 separate licensing charges in 2017.
The ECHO spoke with people living in the block which casts a long shadow over the skyline towards Liverpool city centre back in the summer. Now, as winter nears, a date looms for work to hopefully begin on the lifts.
The lifts are the responsibility of Clear Building Management (CBM), who told the LDRS in the summer how around £10,000 of unbudgeted costs were incurred for call outs and repairs in the first half of this year. Power has been shut off to the units for up to 10 months.
CBM has managed the building on behalf of leaseholder-controlled L8 Inc RTM Company since 2020. In a statement earlier this month, a spokesperson told the ECHO there have been “numerous incidents of lift failure recently, primarily caused by deliberate vandalism, the most recent involved forcing the doors of the only working lift and causing significant damage to the floor lock.”
Kieran Jackson has lived at Mill View for a decade with his wife and daughter. He said he had sought the help of Cllr Steve Munby to get work back on the agenda.
Mill View Tower, Dingle. Photo by Colin Lane(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
He said: “After speaking with Steve Munby who I would like to commend as he has been nothing but supportive and used as much influence as he can to get some sort of help from Liverpool Council with getting the issues fixed for the council to basically abandon us and not provide help. Clear Building Management are still chasing some of the service charges but due to various issues surrounding ownership of some of the flats this is proving a long and difficult process.
“The residents are supporting each other as much as we can but it still is a tough process, there have been various people who have moved out including a family that had a severely disabled child, Steve Munby managed to arrange supportive accommodation for them.”
In a letter to residents, seen by the ECHO, Cllr Munby confirmed he met with CBM earlier this month to discuss works on the building. There are hopes it could begin in the spring but Cllr Munby said he remained concerned about the wait.
He said: “There’s a process to complete the works and be agreed by the building services forum. The best case scenario we’ve had is one of the lifts being completed by next April and the other in June.
“This is a negative situation for residents but it’s a far better one that I would have feared. There are questions residents want answers to, like if the lifts will stop on each floor, there’s been no guarantees on this.
“I felt deeply pessimistic initially but what we’re looking at now is an awkward period for residents but a chance the lifts will go in. I wouldn’t say I was optimistic or confident but I’m a lot less worried long term.
“It’s a desperate situation for residents still.”