Glebeside residents being treated like ‘second class citizens’

Residents of Hamilton Park complained that three years after other streets in the estate had their kitchens upgraded they still are waiting leaving them with unsuitable facilities.

Adrian Campbell who lives in Hamilton Park told the Times: “The facilities we have to work with are unsuitable. My wife and I have two children and we have a space of approximately two feet square to prepare meals on. In this day and age this is unacceptable.

“To make matters worse I have friends and family a short distance away who have lovely modern kitchens. We have approached the Housing Executive plenty of times and even though they claim it will be sorted it still isn’t.”

Adrian’s wife Michelle continued: “I’m proud of my home and would love to decorate my kitchen but can’t as the units are ancient and in such bad shape. One of the cupboard doors is falling apart but goodness knows what they can do as they won’t have the same style. To be honest its quite embarrassing to invite people into the house.”

Iain McAfee who was contacted by the family said: “When Mr Campbell got in touch I immediately spoke to the local Housing Executive who said it was due to a lack of money. While I appreciate that budgets are tight I cannot accept such inequalities. While it is unacceptable across different areas and estates, it is more noticeable when it is in the next street.

“I have requested a meeting with the Housing Executive to discuss not just this situation but housing issues in general in Ballymoney. I don’t lay blame at the local Housing Executive door as their budgets are clearly restrictive but I would question what efforts local political representatives have made to lobby to Government to address the problems they face.”

A spokesperson form the Housing Executive added: “In recent years the Housing Executive has replaced kitchens in a number of homes in Glebeside, Ballymoney.

“In the current economic climate, the Housing Executive’s work programmes have had to be scaled back and it has been necessary to extend timescales for this type of work. The next phase of kitchen replacement planned for Glebeside, including homes in Hamilton Park, is scheduled for 2013, subject to availability of funding. The 105 properties included in this phase were the subject of multi element improvements in the early 1990s. These work programmes are kept under regular review.”