'Our homes are falling down around us' say residents in controversial council flats in Milton Keynes

Families living in the city’s controversial Reema flats are living in fear of being hit by lumps of concrete falling off the buildings.

And they have accused Milton Keynes City Council of not doing enough to keep them safe.

Sixteen Reema blocks, each four storeys high, were built in Bletchley during the 1960s using the cheap, then popular method of prefabricated mildly reinforced concrete panels.

Ronan Point, a 22 storey tower block in East London was built with similar materials in 1968. Just two months after it opened, a gas explosion blew out some load-bearing walls and caused the collapse of one entire corner of the building.

Four people were killed 17 injured, and the spectacular nature of the failure led to major changes in UK building regulations.

Over the decades more and more problems started appearing nationally with the construction method, with structures showing evidence of cracking and spalling and also corrosion of the concrete panels. Many of the homes have now been officially classed as defective by government.

In Bletchley there are around 150 households living in Reema blocks and two years ago MK Council promised to carry out full structural surveys to see if they were safe.

It is understood these investigations are now complete but no results have been published.

One tenant who lived in a Reema flat for more than four years says she has been reporting issues with pieces falling off her building since the day she moved in.

"The steel reinforcement through the concrete is corroding, therefore pushing the concrete out… On a daily basis there is concrete falling especially in the communal garden. Yet, MK City Council has not provided any protection from this,” she said.

"Our homes are falling down ...We are afraid we will be hit by falling debris.

One young mum who lives in Lanark House, in West Bletchley's Cumbria Close, said her building is showing “alarming cracks” in the concrete structure.

“150 families are at risk of being severely hurt by falling concrete. MKCC need to take urgent action to keep their tenants safe”

Residents are also worried about what would happen if a fire were to break out, as research shows Reema blocks can cause flames to spread rapidly and ultimately lead to concrete wall panels collapsing.

"These buildings are defective... They are entering the end of their service lives. The vulnerabilities are growing. Central government may need to work out a plan for decommissioning the surviving towers in an orderly manner. We got 50 years out of buildings that were poorly built to a fundamentally flawed design. We should not push our luck - or wait for it to run out," said one.

Recently the council erected metal fencing and scaffolding boards around the entrances to some of the Reema buildings and the Citizen asked if this meant measures were being taken to protect the tenants.

A council spokesman told us: “The temporary fencing and canopies have been installed so we can carry out further detailed inspections of the blocks and complete surface repairs.

"We will continue to keep residents updated on the progress.”