MORE cold water has been poured on a council tenant's hopes of finally being able to enjoy a hot shower in her own home for the first time in the six months she has lived there.

Things at Joanne Robinson's Grangemoor house are so bad that her 18-month-old son has to live at her parents' home up the road.

The shower only runs cold, there is no garden gate and anyone touching both cooker and sink at the same time is in for a shock - of the static electrical variety (which is why the boy lives elsewhere).

Joanne, 21, who has been complaining since she moved in last January, waited in all Friday when the council arranged to fix her shower.

But the expected workmen (or women) never came.

Joanne, who recently gave birth to her second child, was very annoyed at having wasted a day.

"I phoned them up to find out what had happened and they said they would have to talk to the foreman on Monday."

She is the first tenant of the house, which used to belong to social services.

And this latest set-back, after such a long wait, has left her despairing.

"I would only see a ray of hope if it was Cheshire County Council and not Halton. When they said they would do repairs, they did them."

This disatisfaction seems to be more widespread, a council committee heard on Tuesday.

A report on a survey carried out on life in the borough showed that only 13.5 per cent of the 700 people who filled in a council questionnaire were satisfied with the standard of housing maintenace.

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