A CALLINGTON resident who has been waiting years to get her council house upgraded says her son's health is suffering as a result.

Helen May, of Coronation Close, has been told she may have to wait until 2015 for the current single glazing, which leaves gaps between the windows and walls, to be replaced with double glazing in line with most other other council properties.

In the meantime her 17-year-old son, Dudley, who has the heart condition Superventricular tachycardia, is suffering constant chest infections and her 54-year-old husband, who takes medication to thin the blood after having a stroke, is finding the cold hard to deal with in the winter.

Mrs May said: 'In the winter we have ice on the inside of the windows and with the amount of condensation I have permanently got towels on the window sills and carpets to soak up the wet.

'I have been trying to get this sorted for a number of years but for some reason we seem to be ignored. No-one from the council has even been around to look.

'We had central heating installed six years ago and they said the windows would be replaced within the next two years but it didn't happen. Why should I pay extra heating costs, which we cannot afford, to heat the outside?'

The Mays' case has been taken up by Cornwall councillor for Callington Andrew Long. He said he was 'shocked' by a situation which should not be happening in the 21st century.

'It appears that these houses, at the western end of Coronation Road, have been missed out on previous upgrades on their windows, which means families have massive heating bills to cope with due to the fact there are gaps in their windows,' he said.

'In 2011 this is just unacceptable. We cannot have a situation where some of the poorest families in our communities have to pay excessive fuel costs, especially with today's excessively high prices, just to keep themselves warm.'

Cllr Long said he had brought the matter up with the housing department and was pressing for an urgent solution to the problem before the transfer of the whole 10,500 housing stock to a new council-owned housing company in April next year.

Cornwall Council said unfortunately there were still council properties in the Callington area with single glazed windows, as the former Caradon District Council chose to upgrade heating systems before replacing the windows with double glazing.

Cornwall Council had started a window updating programme but it would take time.

The council was currently working with tenants' groups in setting up Cornwall Housing, the new council-owned company responsible for delivering front-line housing services, and in the process of self-financing.

The Self-Financing Government scheme allowed the council to release additional funding to speed up the double glazing programme.  

As soon as the expected funding was released, which was anticipated to be next year, the programme would go to tenants and the new board for approval.

Cornwall Council cabinet member for housing Mark Kaczmarek said: 'The Self-Financing model is the only way we will be able to secure investment into our housing stock across the whole of Cornwall and even before we go to this model, if there are any serious defects in our housing stock, they will be dealt with.'

'Cornwall Council is dealing with various poor decisions made by former councils and councillors and I believe it is unfair for Cllr Long to criticise us when we are doing our best to serve our 10,500 tenants.'