A FAMILY-of-seven has hit out at the council after being told their freezing home won’t be receiving the renovations happening all around Clydebank.

West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) is undertaking a substantial social housing improvement project in Whitecrook.

Thirty-eight homes were originally earmarked to be upgraded with new roughcast and cavity insulation — and the council expanded the programme to 59 properties.

Yet, Gillian Connelly, 42, who lives in Wood Quadrant with her partner Paul Keenan and five kids, has been left stunned after her home with broken roughcast and no insulation was left out.

“All I want is the same as everyone else in the area,” she said. “All of the four bedroom homes owned by the council in the around here have been done.” A quick fix on cracks in the roughcast is due for Gillian later this month, after a visual inspection by private contractors Savill UK.

Despite being well-decorated and kept, the family house is plagued by icy draughts during the colder months.

During the winter, Gillian and her partner fork out up to £50 a week on their gas bill, as well as £20 on their coal fire they were forced to install to stay warm.

Every year they fall into fuel poverty. WDC’s Home Action Team leaflet states you are in fuel poverty when you “spend 10 per cent or more of your income on all your household fuel.” It defines fuel poverty as “the inability to afford adequate warmth due to the energy efficiency of the dwelling.” A council-commissioned inspection of Gillian and her husband’s home by City Technical Service clearly stipulates the rapid drop in temperature when the heating is turned off. This makes every winter a bank-breaking affair for the working family.

The couple are not convinced that a slap-up repair to emerging faults in the exterior of their home will solve any problems.

They say the building is in drastic need of completely new roughcast as well as basic cavity insulation.

The semi-detached council house is at the end of a block of four — and as such the side of the building is more exposed to the elements than other properties.

Every other four bedroom house in the area has received the new roughcast and insulation, Gillian claimed.

But she has been rejected several times by WDC to be included in the massive regeneration project. Private contractors Savills UK carried out a visual inspection on her house and said the roughcast passed the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS).

However, we have since been informed that it is virtually impossible to do a visual test successfully on the exterior rendering of a building.

Usually, a hammer should be run along the outside and a hollow noise listened for by an expert.

The refusal comes at a time when WDC’s housing department is actually under-spending year after year.

Housing chiefs were criticised last week after we revealed they had £8 million left over from last year’s housing budget.

The money is reserved for renovating social housing across the region — exactly what Gillian is asking for.

And at the time when the building materials are quite literally sitting a stone’s throw from her home in Whitecrook, she has been left frustrated.

“I don’t know why they’re singling us out,” said the mother-of-five. “I’m dreading the winter again. The amount of money we’re haemorrhaging on the heating bills and buying coal for the fire, it’s far too much.

“Every year we go into fuel poverty and this refusal from the council has just made me so angry and completely downtrodden.

“It’s really confused my partner and I. I don’t want to sound like I’m moaning — it’s a cry for help to the council, and one I feel that’s being ignored.” A council spokeswoman said: “We would like to once again reassure Ms Connelly that decisions over which council homes receive external insulation and re-rendering are made on the basis of need, using information provided by independent specialist surveyors.

“Ms Connelly’s property currently meets the Scottish Housing Quality Standard and so is not included in the current programme. Any claim that other tenants have contacted the council and been added to the programme is unsubstantiated.” She added: “Ms Connelly’s home will be surveyed again in 2018/19 when, depending upon condition and available budget, it may be included in a similar insulation and re-rendering programme.” copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy