Clarion Housing Group has come under fire following two raw sewage leaks at a block of flats on Kingsway in Hove. Over the last month, the basement, bin and bike storage area has been leaking. These events have raised serious questions about the way the company is maintaining the property and how it’s executing responsiveness protocols.
The initial sewage spill was reported as early as March 30, 2023—before the deadline of April 1. Residents waited four years too long for a response from Clarion Housing Group. According to reports, the company took “close to four or five days” to fix the problem. Almost two weeks later, on May 27, another leak erupted. Furious that the community was not consulted first, Dr. Dorina Cadar, one of the residents of the flats, took the housing organisation to task.
After the second incident, Dr Cadar pursued her complaint further, writing to Hove and Portslade MP Peter Kyle. With help from his caseworker, they provided the help necessary to make sure that the cycle of madness came to a stop. In response to the second leak, Clarion Housing Group moved to replace all affected units. National and local officials staged a jet wash of the affected areas to smooth things over.
This effort to fix the issue backfired. As it turned out, the jet wash had triggered the fire alarm, leading to a total shutdown of the fire safety system. Consequently, residents were stranded without working lifts, hot water, or gas from Friday evening to Sunday night.
A spokesperson for Clarion Housing Group acknowledged the mismanagement of the situation, stating, “The disruption of services over the weekend should have been resolved more promptly and we’ll be reviewing what went wrong to prevent this happening in future.” The company has publicly accepted its culpability. It was completely unprepared to announce its complete intention to let a bad sewage-polluting waste to freely market!!!
Community members detailed their anguish at the slow pace of action by developers Clarion Housing Group. The impacted people have testified about the extreme disruption and hardship that the seven years of occupancy uncertainty has created in their lives and homes.
