Focus E15 Housing Campaign campaigner and Newham resident Paige Daines moved to Brassett Point with her six-month-old son in 2023. After a terrible period in emergency accommodation in Victoria Street she thought moving there was a blessing. But the lack of fundamental repairs and the poor upkeep of the block became another day-to-day reality that she and her fellow residents have had to fight through — facing long response delays, phone calls on hold, general fobbing off by the council, and at times outright rudeness.

Paige describes how the situation first became known to her, revealing serious ongoing problems in the block that affect residents’ physical and mental health.

So when did you first realise how bad things were at Brassett Point?

When I first moved in, my neighbour told me that the woman who lived there before me had several water leaks, to the point where the whole ceiling collapsed on her. That’s the first time I heard about it. One resident was also instructed to use a bucket because the toilet was broken in her flat with leaking sewage water.

After living there for about a month, I started seeing water coming through my ceiling. Later on, after living there longer, I found out the water coming back through was actually sewage water. Then I met an older woman upstairs on the seventh floor who told me she’s been living with this for 30 years.

You mentioned that when you tried to report water dripping onto your food, the council responded in an unhelpful way, to put it mildly?

So when I rang the council about the situation, they told me they “wasn’t a food bank”, when all my cupboards had got soaked and all my belongings were wet.

After protesting outside the repairs centre, they told me they were taking the soil vent pipe into consideration. ( A Soil Vent Pipe is a vertical pip that removes sewage and grey water from a building). But then later they told me they were only going to do a temporary fix for two years — so it’s just going to come back again.

So this is the soil vent pipe which contains sewage water. How did you feel when you heard it was sewage water?

I thought it was disgusting that the council allows people to live in a building exposed to sewage water, which clearly can make people ill and give them stomach bugs.

I found out from one of the neighbours that a small child’s bedroom was swimming in sewage water up to the level of their ankles.

Could you say more about what your neighbours told you about this?

Another neighbour had to get a lawyer to sort out the issues in her flat because of the ongoing leaks and damage. They had to put her in a hotel costing hundreds of pounds a week because she couldn’t live in her flat.

Residents say thousands of pounds have been spent on legal cases and temporary accommodation, yet the Soil Vent Pipe still has not been permanently repaired.

What role do you think the Focus E15 Housing Campaign has played in trying to highlight all this?

We had a protest outside the council’s repairs centre. One of the campaigners was wearing a cowboy builder costume to show how all the repairs were temporary and badly done.

We did draw attention to the process and they promised us they would fix the issue, but they never did. They never got back to us. Later I learned they only ever intended to do temporary fixes for the next two years.

When we went on the protest people were very angry about it. What do you think the way forward is now for residents?

I think more people should get involved, and more protests need to happen. We probably need to pester the new mayor with meetings to address these issues. This has been going on for 30 years for some residents. We all need to come together. We need to insist that they fix the Soil Vent Pipe properly and stop spending thousands of pounds doing temporary fixes.

Paige’s experience is far from isolated. Residents at Brassett Point have repeatedly organised together to try to force the council to address the long-running sewage and disrepair problems in the block.

The council say that the problems are due to a faulty Soil Vent Pipe. However, residents from Brassett Point are fed up with years of disrepair, of being ignored, and living with ongoing leaks, damp and contaminated water in their homes. They want the issues to be fixed.

The Protest and the Council’s Response

On the 25 March 2026, Focus E15 campaigners and Newham residents from Brassett Point, held a protest outside the Bridge Road Depot. We held banners and placards together. The message to the council was simple: no more living with sewage water running from floor to floor.

During the protest, a council worker told us we were “giving the council a bad name” and asked us to take the banner down. However, passing motorists were reading the signs and hooting their car horns in support.

After protesting for only 10 to 15 minutes, senior housing officials came out of their offices: Paul Kitson, Head of Housing, Michael Callaghan, Director of Housing Services, and Loretta Chalkley, Assistant Director of Property Services.

They were polite and apologetic. Residents explained the years-long battle to deal with damp, mould and sewage water leaking into cupboards and homes, ruining decorations, furniture and belongings. People spoke about being left on hold for hours, emails going unanswered, appointments being missed or denied, and the exhaustion of constantly chasing repairs.

Loretta Chalkley explained that the council knew all about the issues at Brassett Point. Residents were told about a company called Apollo, who carried out repair works, but whose “time ran out in 2018” and apparently no longer exist. The manufacturers, Polypipe, were also mentioned, with discussion of an alleged design fault that the council said it was in talks about.

Tea and coffee were provided, and drawing pads and pens found for the children. The council representatives repeatedly apologised for the conditions residents had been living in. By the end of the meeting, the following plan was agreed:

1. A letter would be sent to all residents.
2. A Resident/Housing Liaison Officer would be appointed to collect residents’ concerns and escalate issues directly to senior management.
3. Regular “touch points” — meetings and updates — would be arranged so residents could be kept informed.

Meeting the officers

What Has Happened Since?

The council fully acknowledged the appalling conditions at Brassett Point — conditions that for some residents have lasted years, even decades.

Everyone who had attended the protest received a phone call the same day. During those calls, further promises were made about ongoing communication and regular contact, suggesting that the issues would be resolved.

However, residents say very little has happened since.

Calls have not been returned. Follow-up communication has largely stopped. Residents who were promised updates say they have struggled to get responses when trying to contact the council. Many now feel the meeting was more about removing the protest from public view than seriously addressing the issues.

Residents were brought inside, listened to sympathetically, and reassured that action would be taken — but the sewage water continues to run through the building.

For many living at Brassett Point, the feeling now is that they are still being managed rather than heard.

We will not give up the struggle for decent housing, Brassett Point residents and Focus E15 campaign are continuing to organise to challenge Newham council.