A social landlord has been slammed after confiscating a single mother’s pram from a block of flats in Crowthorne.

A2Dominion cleared residents’ possessions – including prams – from a stairwell at Wellington Mews on Heath Hill Road South last Thursday, January 11. The housing association says this is because items left there pose a hazard.

But one tenant says other safety concerns regarding disrepair have been left unresolved. Frankie Ellen says staff took several buggies including her family’s, and another belonging to a single mother in the same block of flats, and immediately disposed of them.

She told the News: “I’m lucky because I’ve got my husband at work and we can replace ours. But she’s a single parent with two young children under the age of 10 and they’ve taken her buggy.

READ MORE: The year of misery for tenants of Silva Homes in Bracknell

“She hasn’t got a car, so she can’t do the school run, she can’t get her shopping. What’s she meant to do with the baby?”

A2Domion told the News it had sent residents a letter on December 18 asking them to keep communal areas clear. It said the building didn’t have space for communal storage.

Dawn Wightman, director of homes & communities at A2Dominion, said: “Safety is our number one priority and we’ve been in regular contact with residents about the importance of keeping communal areas clear.

“Leaving personal items in these areas can cause injuries and prevent people leaving the building in an emergency.

“Regretfully the building doesn’t have the capacity for a communal storage facility.”

But Ms Ellen said it wasn’t always possible to store buggies inside flats. She said: “We all understand belongings in the communal areas can be a fire hazard, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.

“When you’ve got young children that are asleep or you’ve got your shopping, it’s practically impossible to get up the stairs with the buggy.”

She also claimed that other safety issues she had reported – such as a missing handle on the fire door in her kitchen – had gone unrepaired.

And she said pigeons were still living in the building's loft years after a health scare for her baby son in 2016 was reportedly caused by their droppings falling through extractor fans into her kitchen.

The scare prompted an inspection from Bracknell Forest Council environmental health officers in 2016. A2Dominion said that it completed works after this and had no reports of further issues. It also said it found no outstanding repairs during an inspection in December.

Ms Wightman said: “Following our latest inspection in December 2023 there were no outstanding repairs and maintenance work reported, and all communal fire door handles were in place.

“We were contacted by Bracknell Environmental Health Team regarding pigeons in the loft in 2016, these works were completed and we’ve received no reports of any further issues.”