Housing associations are being urged by Cheshire East to deal with residents' complaints about damp and mould as a matter of urgency following the tragic death of a two-year-old boy.

Awaab Ishak died in December 2020. Last month a coroner concluded the little boy died as a result of prolonged exposure to mould in his family's rented flat in Rochdale.

Congleton councillor Rob Moreton (Ind) told Wednesday's meeting of Cheshire East Council he has been working alongside residents in his ward for the past two years trying to resolve issues with damp in social housing properties and had recently put out a message on social media regarding the matter.

"The response has been massive, and I feel it's only going to get worse with the cost of living crisis as residents won't be able to heat their homes. The health issues will be massive," said Cllr Moreton.

"I'm now working alongside our social housing providers in Congleton to try and get these long standing issues resolved but feel this is a massive problem across the borough.

"So today I'm asking, can this council write to our social housing providers across the borough to make sure they are dealing with residents' complaints regarding damp in their properties as a matter of urgency, as if this isn't dealt with correctly and speedily this will be cause massive health issues across Cheshire East."

Cllr Nick Mannion (Lab) said the council had already contacted all housing associations in Cheshire East.

"Last week, we wrote to all the registered providers that have [housing] stock in Cheshire East asking for an appropriate contact with regard to the related issues of damp, mould and heating because we're all aware of the tragic case in Rochdale," said the Macclesfield councillor.

He said there were more than 30 housing associations in the borough and they had been asked to respond before Christmas and, once the contact details were known, the information would be circulated to all councillors.

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