A councillor in Malpas says she will take on the fight to stop Sanctuary Housing trebling service charges for residents of a sheltered home in the village.

Residents of Craddock Court in Malpas pay for two gas boilers at the property – which they say has only been at 50 per cent capacity – which is then split between the 35 units.

This week, Sanctuary Housing told residents that payments would be going from £11 a week to around £32 – nearly treble the previous amount.

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The housing company says the charge is justified but Councillor Rachel Williams says she will be contacting Edward Timpson, MP for Eddisbury, to try to get a better deal for residents.

She said: “A proportion of residents have highlighted concerns they have around annual increases within Craddock Court.

“I am supporting them to challenge, concerns which are mainly around the increase in heating charges and service maintenance are causing my residents a lot of anxiety.

“To add to that, residents are not happy with the time scale of repairs.

“Having been invited to listen to resident’s concerns and look at the maintenance repairs, past and present, its apparent that the time scale on repairs is not being met which is frankly unacceptable.”

Cllr Williams added that dissatisfaction with Sanctuary Housing is not just limited to tenants at Craddock Court.

She added: “Residents in social housing should have their complaint dealt with swiftly and effectively and unfortunately for Sanctuary Housing many tenants in my area not just Craddock Court, have lost trust in the association.

“Disappointingly I am still awaiting a response from Sanctuary, but I will be pressing the matter and seeking support from our local MP.”

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A spokesman for Sanctuary had previously confirmed the lower price for gas at the home was down to ‘protection from significant price increases’.

They added: “Unfortunately, many of our long-term energy deals have ended this year leading to an unavoidable increase in our service charges.

“We would encourage any customers with financial concerns to contact us directly so we can offer support.”