Wigan Council housing to be reviewed for "hazards" following tragic death of toddler
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Awaab Ishak, aged two, suffered a cardiac arrest due to respiratory failure in December 2020, which had been caused by mould in his home.
The council, responsible for thousands of borough homes, is trying to avoid anything similar happening in Wigan. Bosses have put more funding towards their housing team in order to carry out this review.
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Hide Ad“I am sure people have received the report into the death of Awaab which is an absolute tragedy,” Charlotte Cordingley, director for housing, property and corporate assets, told the Housing Advisory Panel.
“We are taking this extremely seriously as we know there is a potential respiratory problems people can suffer. As a result we have set up a local taskforce to start a review into our developments and an action plan to respond to that.
“We have sent out a letter this week to say we will be providing a response. The assessment is to find detailed information and identify any hazards as a result of mould.
“We have put additional resources in place to respond to this.”
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Hide AdShe said the housing team has set up triage calling to respond to any concerns residents may have. This review was already in motion in Wigan, but plans have been accelerated in the wake of Awaab’s death, councillors were told.
This plan will run alongside housing updates to meet new regulations brought in following 2017’s Grenfell Tower disaster. The more recent incident involving Awaab saw Rochdale Boroughwide Housing heavily criticised for their failures to tackle the mould.