A Keighley woman has hit out after it took a housing association four weeks to start repairing her blaze-damaged home.

Margaret Kinley says her four children have been crammed into one bedroom and she has had to sleep in the living room.

the housing association this week sent contractors in to redecorate the house. The work should be complete sometime next week.

The fire broke out early last month at the house in Shapla Close, Fell Lane, where Margaret, 38, lives with her three daughters and son aged between four and 14. The blaze severely damaged a bedroom and smoke-logged the first floor.

The family was refused a new house at the time because Brunel Housing Association said it was not an 'emergency'.

Margaret told the Keighley News early this week that despite numerous telephone calls, Brunel had still not carried out the repairs. She said Brunel sent cleaners to the house two days after the fire but they did little work. "You could see where they tried to clean one of the walls," she said. "But that's all they did.

"We have had to store all the bedroom furniture in the dining room. We have been getting little sleep. It has been crazy."

A written statement from Brunel said an inspection revealed that damage had been confined to one of four bedrooms, with smoke damage affecting the upper floor. The remaining bedrooms, bathroom, and ground floor rooms were considered habitable.

Brunel says it had to wait to carry out permanent repairs and redecoration until the Association's fire insurance company gives authorisation.

Brunel's housing manager for Keighley, Geraldine Ryan, told us: "We are very concerned that the delay has been causing Mrs Kinley and her family some hardship. We would expect to complete the work within the next two to three weeks."

She says Mrs Kinley's house is one of Brunel's larger properties and she could not be off-ered similar-sized alternative temporary accommodation.

of a similar size.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.