ANGRY Queen's Park residents fear they may be left without heating and hot water this winter.
As temperatures plummeted sub-zero in February this year, Avenue Gardens Estate residents were forced to huddle round small fan heaters for four days, when the central heating system broke down.
Westminster Council's housing arm CityWest Homes (CWH), which runs the estate, blamed the heating failure on a build-up of debris in the pipes and said it was working on the problem.
But according to the latest CWH programme of works, the heating will only be fixed November, by which time residents say the cold weather will already be setting in.
John Loudoun(COR), 56, who lives on the estate, said: "It's good news because something is being done, but the concern is that we're going to be in November, which is the coldest time of the year, by the time the heating is fixed.
"Also, most works seem to over-run, so they may not be finished until later in the year."
A CWH spokeswoman said: "We're carrying out a programme of repair and maintenance to the heating system at Avenue Gardens over the summer to avoid a repeat of the problems which affected the system last year.
"The heating problems were caused by a build-up of sludge in the pipes which temporarily blocked the system.
"The summer programme of repair works includes the cleaning of the strainers and removing the sludge to ensure that the system is in good working order by the autumn.
"Once this programme is complete, we will start major works to further improve the reliability and efficiency of the system.
"We will continue to keep residents informed on our progress."
