HOMES which were redeveloped as part of a regeneration scheme are experiencing flooding problems, it has emerged.

Residents in Albert Street, Nelson, have reported cellars filled with water just two years after a £946,000 plan to revive the Whitefield neighbourhood.

Liberal Democrat councillors have accused the previous Labour administration of wanting to knock down swathes of homes under the former Housing Market Renewal programme.

And Coun David Whipp said the Homes and Communities Agency programme for Whitefield had established homes which were ‘comfortable and affordable’.

But Coun Mohammed Iqbal, Labour group leader, told a full council meeting that he would be ‘happy to take Coun Whipp on a tour of Whitefield’ to see properties affected by flooding.

“He thinks that all he’s going to see are ‘sold’ signs when in reality he may want to question why people are not rushing to get mortgages around there,” he said.

“They don’t want to live in houses where their cellars are full of water. Some of the neighbours have lived there for 40 years and they have never had any problems with flood water.”

Speaking later, Coun Iqbal said that there were also flooding problems reported in nearby Stanley Street.

Council leader Coun Joe Cooney, who is also housing cabinet member, is understood to be aware of the issue and residents are anxious for remedial work to be done.

Thirteen homes were redeveloped by PEARL2 along Stanley Street, with at least four properties converted into four-bedroom homes, costing nearly £150,000 apiece.

Similar two-into-one conversions were also carried out in Mosley Street and Every Street, under related HMR programmes.