A WORRIED daughter fears the lack of wardens at a council-run retirement housing complex is putting her elderly parents at risk.

Carol Hardiman fears that people living in the sheltered housing site have been let down as there is no longer anyone regularly checking in on them and problems are taking longer to deal with.

She said: "There is never a warden there, it's not right, things have really gone downhill.

"The lift often breaks so my 90-year-old mum has to go down three flights of stairs until it's fixed, sometimes she can't leave the flat to do her shopping.

"There was a fire engine called to the building earlier this month but no staff were there, and the rear fire door is currently broken so if there is a fire they wouldn't be able to get out that way anyway.

"If something breaks or goes wrong, they can't contact anyone and we would not know about it. If mum falls and pulls the cordon, it takes ages for anyone to come out to help her.

"She looks after my dad, who has cancer, and she's a bit worried about the situation."

Concerns have been raised about this issue before by people living at George Hall Court, who pointed out that they currently have one warden overseeing three sites.

Maggie Hathaway-Mills told the Adver in April: "There are frequently incidents and emergencies that require immediate assistance and our warden is miles away at another site."

Around this time, the Adver reported on annoyed residents of another council-owned sheltered housing scheme at Charles Macpherson Gardens in Eldene joined forces with the ACORN union in a bid to retain a full-time warden there.

Historically, each of Swindon’s 32 council-run sheltered housing schemes has had a dedicated on-site warden working between 8am-4pm.

But in future, two wardens are to be split between several sites.

When approached for comment about Ms Hardiman's concerns for her parents in George Hall Court, a council spokesman said they would not be providing one "as we intend to resolve any issues directly with our tenants rather than through the newspaper".

When the Adver reported on this issue in April, a council spokesman said: "We have never had a service whereby residential staff were on duty 24/7.

“Although there is a perception that this was the case, we are committed to supporting our most vulnerable residents and will continue to provide a weekday call to them if requested.

“We would never put residents in a less safe position and all our residents have access to our Homeline service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, when Sheltered Staff are not working in the building."