Southwark Council has “exaggerated” damp problems in an estate so it can install cladding, according to residents.

Kingswood Estate in West Dulwich, built in the 1950s and home to 700 council tenants and private owners, has suffered damp problems for years.

Southwark Council has proposed installing external insulation to fix the problem – EWI – but residents are not convinced it is the right move and an independent contractor has said the damp problem may have been exaggerated.

Addressing cabinet on Tuesday (December 17), Lara Daniel, chair of the Kingswood Estate Tenants and Residents Association, said that the problems at Kingswood Estate were “absolutely as a result of Southwark Council’s neglect and lack of maintenance”.

She said: “The majority of the problems are as a result of leaky roofs, crap on our walls, blocked drainage, blocked ventilation and these are the areas we think that Southwark Council needs to concentrate on – solve this problem instead of coming in to clad our estate.

“The contractor they introduced, we fear they exaggerated the level of the damp, which is why they want to do this job.”

She asked how many flats had been affected by the damp, according to the council’s contractor, and said the residents’ association had brought in their own independent contractor.

“We called in our own independent contractor to come in and have a look and the report came out that this (the damp problem) was exaggerated.

“So the level of the problem is not what the Southwark Council contractor has proposed,” Ms Daniel told the cabinet, adding residents would like to keep their red brick exterior and have an alternative solution to the problem.

Kieron Williams, cabinet member for housing management and modernisation, said he hoped the independent contractor chosen by residents “will produce a report you have every confidence in”.

He said: “We did have an independent contractor do the original survey – they surveyed half the properties.

“They’ve come up with a recommendation that damp is in lots of the blocks – it’s quite substantial – and that was their recommendation on how it be solved.

“Obviously we have to take expert advice on how best to solve the problems.

“Rightly so, residents have questions on whether it’s the right solution so hopefully this independent advice, this second opinion, will allow you to have the answers to whether it really will work to reduce damp in the blocks.”

He added that the work proposed would also address other issues in the blocks and will include work on the gutters, the brick work and the windows across the estate.

“As you say, EWI would be a big change to the estate, it would be a lot of money spent on the estate, so we want to make sure that it actually improves the lives of the people in the blocks,” he added.