A LEAKING roof is making life difficult for a young Oswaldtwistle family.

Single mum Joanne Welch has been forced to remove sections of her carpet and mop daily since water started leaking through the roof of her Wordsworth Close home on Christmas Eve.

The 33-year-old, who has lived in the street for eight years, said the damp caused by the leak had made her daughters, seven-year-old Ellie-Mae and 10-month-old Tiana-Rose, poorly.

She said: “I have to mop every day and I have had to cut half the carpet off to stop the smell and the damp.

“Tiana was born three and half months prematurely and we were told there was not much chance of her surviving.

“When she was born she had all sorts of problems, including a brain haemorrhage, and she still has lung disease now. Over Christmas both my daughters had a really bad cough, and Ellie still has hers. Tiana ended up with bronchitis and ended up on a monitor, and her oxygen was really low.”

The full-time mum, who recently split from her partner, said she contacted landlord Hyndburn Homes, and the council’s environmental health department.

She said: “I explained everything to them, and said Tiana needs a clean atmosphere and the damp is not helping her.”

Joanne’s worried mum, Dorothy Laraway, said the situation was ‘not fair’. She added: “She’s up late at night mopping and the baby is poorly, so she’s really worried. It’s making them ill.”

Hyndburn Homes business manager Jill Scott said: “We were first made aware of problems at the property in mid-November and carried out a number of repairs that month.

“Further issues were reported in early January and we sent an inspector to visit that same day. We have since been working to establish the cause of the leak and have now identified a solution.

“Remedial work to the outside of the house will be carried out next week – weather permitting – as we need it to be dry for the repairs to work.”

Deputy council leader Clare Pritchard said: “Our officers have spoken to the tenant and the landlord about a problem with damp there.

“We understand repair works will be undertaken within a week and we will monitor the situation.”