A ceiling that fell down after a boiler leak leaving plaster, beams and wires sticking out in a housing block for the elderly in Ely still hasn’t been repaired after seven months.

Ely Standard: Elderly residents left with no ceiling in Ely housing block. Picture: CHARLIE BISSETTElderly residents left with no ceiling in Ely housing block. Picture: CHARLIE BISSETT (Image: Archant)

Part of the ceiling in the ground floor corridor at Woolpack Yard, in Newnham Street, came crashing down in June last year, leaving residents in their 90s facing the mess when leaving their flats.

Landlords Sanctuary Housing came and cleared away the debris at the time - but haven’t returned since.

After being contacted by this newspaper, bosses at Sanctuary have apologised for the delay in the repair admitting it has been left “too long”.

Charlie Bissett, whose 92-year-old mother-in-law lives there, said the hallway was in an “unacceptable state”.

Ely Standard: Elderly residents left with no ceiling in Ely housing block. Picture: CHARLIE BISSETTElderly residents left with no ceiling in Ely housing block. Picture: CHARLIE BISSETT (Image: Archant)

He also raised concerns about a faulty fire alarm.

He explained: “Sanctuary Housing came and removed the carpet which was ruined from the debris from the ceiling.

“Now in January 2019 the hallway still has part of the ceiling missing and no carpet.

“Despite several false dates to repair the hallway, it remains in a sorry state.

“This is completely unacceptable for elderly residents and they are all worried about it.

“The fire alarm has been going off constantly too – which is quite dangerous for safety purposes because they don’t know when to leave for a fire or not.”

Around six flats are connected to the corridor which is affected by the broken ceiling.

Lorna Philcox, operations manager for Sanctuary Housing in the East, said: “We apologise for the delay to repairing the ceiling, which we agree has been too long.

“The work is going to be done on January 24 and then the new carpets will be fitted immediately afterwards.

“Our scheme manager will write to everyone to let them know and also be available on site to answer any questions.”

In regards to the fire alarm, Ms Philcox continued: “A resident recently burnt some food, which triggered a visit from the fire service who dealt with it promptly and there was no damage caused.

“Tests on the fire alarm are carried out weekly as required. If anyone has any specific concerns about fire safety, please let us know and we will look into them.”