The lifts at Wiltshire Close are breaking down ‘almost every week’, according to a Kensington and Chelsea councillor
Regular lift outages on a West London estate by Sloane Square have left residents feeling inconvenienced and unsafe. One Wiltshire Close tenant said she struggles to lug her shopping up the stairs when the lifts stop working, while another noted a disconcerting “clicky” sound when she uses the one in her block.
Cllr Cem Kemahli, Lead Member for Housing at Kensington and Chelsea Council which manages the estate, said the local authority understands how disruptive lift issues can be and that it is acting proactively to resolve the problem.
The Wiltshire Close estate comprises five blocks built in the mid-20th century with a total of 214 flats. Its history however goes back more than 500 years, according to the estate’s residents’ association, to a time when a Jeremiah Wiltshire worked the land.
Its current predicament, namely the breaking down of its six lifts, was raised by Conservative councillor Walaa Idris at July’s meeting of the Full Council. Describing the estate as home to a “diverse and vibrant community”, Cllr Idris said the lifts had only been installed in 2011/12.
She said: “Although these lifts may be considered relatively new they are now breaking down almost every week. When residents ask council officers why the lifts cannot be replaced they were told they are too new.
“However, if these lifts are failing this frequently, shouldn’t the ongoing cost of repairs, contractor callouts and disruption to residents be weighed against the cost of installing reliable replacements?”
Cllr Idris said the issue had become increasingly severe, with people being forced to walk up several flights of stairs during some outages. She added: “Many are carrying shopping, pushing prams or relying on walking aids for elderly and disabled residents. This is more than an inconvenience. It effectively leaves them trapped in their own home.”
Cllr Idris concluded by asking if a review will be commissioned into whether replacing the lifts in their entirety would provide better value for money.
Cllr Kemahli said in response: “The breaking down of lifts is something that happens all over the borough and I do recognise just how impactful it can be, from The World’s End to Trellick Tower in the north and obviously here at Wiltshire Close.”
He said that while 95 per cent of the time a broken lift at the estate is back up and running within four hours, that leaves five per cent which are not.
Cllr Kemahli continued to say that the problem is with a particular part enabling the lifts to go up and down, though that a proactive approach is being taken and the local authority is “absolutely determined” to resolve the issue across its estates.
‘You don’t feel completely safe’
When the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) visited Wiltshire Close last week the outages proved more challenging for some residents than others. Several the LDRS spoke to said they were not impacted with very few, it any, issues noticed at all.
Others however were more concerned. Amel Bennadji, 50, said there have been problems with the lifts for some time, and that one in her block had broken down as recently as in the last couple of weeks.
She said if it stops working on a weekday it is repaired quickly, though if on a weekend they have to wait until the next working day. “It’s a problem when I have my shopping,” she said. “When I do a lot of shopping, it’s a problem.”
Sarah Meehan, 38, recently moved in and had issues from the off. She said the lift was out when she got to the estate with her belongings, and so ended up having to pay an extra £60 to her movers.
Sally Meah, 69, meanwhile said while she may not struggle, others who rely on the lifts are likely to be affected. She said: “My issue has been, there’s this light. It doesn’t tell us what floor it goes to, and it will be very difficult for older people using it because you don’t know what floor you are on.”
Summer Lee, 24, said she has not been impacted too much, though that there remains a disconcerting sound when using the lift. She said: “You don’t feel completely safe when you are in it because it goes clicky whenever you are in it.”
Cllr Kemahli said: “We understand how disruptive lift problems can be, particularly for residents who rely on them every day. Whenever one of our lifts is reported out of service, an engineer attends within four hours. At Wiltshire Close, 95 per cent of lift breakdowns reported over the past six months have been resolved on the first visit.
“The main problem has been caused by worn roller guides, which allow the lifts to move smoothly. Replacing them individually can cause uneven wear and lead to further breakdowns and the clicking noise residents have reported. The noise itself does not affect the safety of the lifts.
“We know that repeated faults are frustrating and that residents need a reliable long-term solution, so our team has now created new moulds so that the guides can be replaced together rather than one at a time. This should improve reliability, reduce breakdowns and resolve the clicking.
“We are also looking into the report that one lift is not correctly showing which floor it has reached, so that any fault can be identified and repaired.”
Kensington and Chelsea is far from the only local authority in London struggling with lift outages. At the Middlesex Street Estate in the Square Mile residents have been advised to carry mobile phones when using the lifts, as the emergency diallers are not working.
The LDRS also previously reported on problems at Newall Court, in Shepherd’s Bush, where a lift dropped while a woman was in it.
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