Garston residents were given little over a week to evacuate their homes after Watford Community Housing (WCH) declared that structural issues had been identified in flats on Meriden Way and York Way.
Residents of Cygnet House and Plover House were told on Friday, February 9, that they had just nine days to leave their homes to allow investigations to take place.
Tenants were moved to hostels and hotels with the aid of WCH, the majority of which were in the Watford area.
WCH informed Garston News that the next step is for its contractor to conduct further surveys which will confirm the extent of the works required and how long they are likely to take.
A spokesperson for WCH said: “We received a detailed report from our contractor’s engineers advising us that remediation works will need to be carried out to rectify structural defects identified in Cygnet House and Plover House.
“Based on the clear advice we received, we made the difficult decision to move all residents out of their homes so that our contractors can carry out the remediation works.
“We have been working hard to support residents at Cygnet House and Plover House, including finding new temporary and longer-term accommodation for all those affected.
“We will continue to liaise directly with residents to provide any support they need over the coming weeks.”
The flats stand atop of a key row of shops in the Meriden, with owners left confused and concerned by the situation.
Staff at You Matter said: “We don’t know what the problem is. The shops don’t know where we stand really. It’s all up in the air. They turned up and told us, ‘this is what is happening’. We have no idea how long these investigations will take. It’s an absolute nightmare.”
Donald Langford, owner of the Meriden Fish Bar, has said that he has been told that there is no danger to the shop and they won’t have to close, but has brandished the situation yet “another disaster”.
He said: “With everyone having to move out, that’s a lot of clientele that we’re no longer getting. But more than that, people are now scared to come in, as they’ve heard people have been evacuated and they’re worried things are about to collapse!
“It’s another disaster for the local shops. We’re not surprised, dealing with Watford Community Husing has been a nightmare since we opened in August 2022. It’s not been a good year and half for us, and this is just another issue we have to go through.”
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