Council anger at ‘unacceptable’ delays to support for Stockport residents hit by flooding (UPDATED 10/1)
NOTE: THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED TO INCLUDE A STATEMENT FROM PROPERTY MANAGER CERT – 15:00, 10 January 2025.
Stockport Council’s leader and chief executive have slammed as ‘unacceptable’ the lack of response from the owner of apartment building Meadow Mill, which was blighted by floods on New Year’s Day, leaving many residents in “desperation”.
Chief executive Michael Cullen and the leader, Cllr Mark Hunter, have written to the “organisations we believe are responsible” for the ownership, management and buildings insurance at Meadow Mill.
They claim many residents of the apartments in the mill conversion are struggling without clear guidance on insurance claims or temporary accommodation.
“This delay is unacceptable, and we urge all parties to act swiftly to provide the support and information residents need.”
The 213 apartment building in Stockport is owned by Awa, its management company is Cert, and the insurer is AXA.
On its website property management company Cert describes Meadow Mill as a 150,000 sq ft property, that has been transformed into 213 residential apartments and 5 commercial units. “The site features 170 parking spaces and extensive exterior grounds, creating a vibrant community space for its residents and businesses.”
Cert claims its management at Meadow Mill “reflects our commitment to operational excellence, financial efficiency, and community-centric practices.”
The car park was completely flooded damaging scores of cars, while a new gym business in the basement of the building had its equipment and premises wrecked by the floods.
Heavy rain and rising levels from the neighbouring River Mersey caused the damage.
Many residents couldn’t access the building and had to sleep on the floor in the Tesco supermarket next door.
In the letter, Hunter and Cullen praised the immediate response from “all parties” following the flooding, but have been highly critical that there has been “little/no consideration” for the ongoing plight of the residents affected.
Residents have been forced to move back in to apartments, without electricity or water or indeed any of the appropriate safety systems operating to protect them or the building.
“Whilst such unauthorised occupation is contrary to the advice and requirements of both statutory agencies, and the building owners/management company, these residents are clearly desperate,” the letter says.
Residents have moved into hotels and paid ‘up front’ but many are now financially unable to cover such costs, and have nowhere else to turn.
“Both the management company (CERT) and building owners (Awal Investments) are referring to AXA, but AXA would seem to be refusing to deal with residents directly, and we understand there has been no information provided to residents regarding how to claim, or indeed secure temporary accommodation if they are not able to fund initial costs.”
An earlier version of this story included a claim on Cert’s website that they had renegotiated the insurance premiums for tenants.
A spokesperson for CERT told theBusinessDesk.com: “We have made an error to our website content, and the information relates to a different project and was posted by a team member without approval.
“To be clear, we have not been involved in placing the insurance at Meadow Mill, the freeholder placed the policy and is the policy holder.”
On Friday the 10th of January CERT replied with a full statement.
“Since the occurrence of the extreme weather event which saw one and a half times the rainfall expected in January occur in a 12 hour window, CERT’s client, the freeholder, has worked to address the damage caused by the flooding from the river as swiftly as possible.
“At the point of receiving the letter from Stockport Council, utility operatives had been working through the weekend, last week and all week with the objective of restoring power and water to the property as soon as possible.
“The freeholder has brought in a specialist disaster recovery consultant to manage the recovery process. As part of this process essential electrical and water equipment has been assessed by the manufacturers earlier this week and the specialist consultants are coordinating supply and installation. They are working with their appointed electrical & mechanical contractor and have been developing a solution to bring an electric supply to the building as soon as possible.
“Based on the timeline of the works required to reinstate the building’s utilities, the target is to have power restored to the communal landlord areas of the building by Monday. From there, the necessary testing of the life safety systems within the building and within the apartments themselves can take place to ensure the systems are operating correctly and to check that there is no fire risk from the electrics systems. Following the delivery of the replacement water pumps, the water supply can be reinstated once the necessary water tests and dichlorination is carried out.
“This update was communicated to all Leaseholders of Meadow Mill at 2.30pm on Thursday 9th January, and to Stockport Council in response to their letter. We have been in daily contact with all leaseholders, and their agents, since the event, and we are delivering daily updates to all leaseholders with the most up to date position on how the works are progressing. Where our communications have not been opened by the leaseholders, and their agents, we have called them directly to confirm receipt of the updates. We continue to urge leaseholders to check for our updates and swiftly communicate with their tenants.”
