A pensioner claims she has been living with mould throughout her council bungalow for seven years.

Jean Binks, 82, said Slough Borough Council repair workers come to her Berkshire home to clean and treat mould once every three months.

She told the BBC Berkshire breakfast show: “I call them in and they come, and they clean it and they stop the mould and then three months later it’s all back again.”

Ms Binks said council repair workers, surveyors and even solicitors had been unable to figure out what is causing the mould.

READ MORE: Distress as Slough mum waits a month for toilet repair

She said: “I’ve had about twenty men working on it, I’ve had surveyors, I’ve had solicitors – I’ve had everybody at my house. But nobody seems to know the reason why it’s happening.”

She added that the mould had affected her social life as she feels embarrassed to invite friends round. And she suspects it may have affected her health.

Ms Binks said: “If you’ve got a toilet and a bathroom that’s got dirty mould growing all round and you can’t get rid of it all the time – then I stopped inviting friends round because I didn’t want them to go into my bathroom thinking it was me that was being dirty.”

Slough Borough Council said it was looking into ventilation in Ms Binks’ home and will carry out works to prevent mould recurring.

It said its records suggest all previous incidents reported were for small areas of mould in one room.

Ms Binks’ story comes as Slough Borough Council has said a ‘high number of damp and mould’ problems were holding up repairs.

The council repeatedly missed its target of completing 95 per cent of all repairs within its own deadlines month on month in the second half of 2023. That’s according to quarterly reports to council leaders.

The latest report says damp and mould complaints, bad weather, and sickness among staff all contributed to the problem.

It says: “The high number of damp & mould cases continues to impact the service as well as an increase in repairs due to persistent bad weather, high levels of sickness during December and staff on leave during the festive holidays.”

The council’s website says routine repairs should be completed within 20 working days, and urgent repairs – where there is a risk of danger or damage – should be completed within three days.

Emergency repairs – where there’s a risk of immediate danger to people or significant damage to the property – should be done within 24 hours.

But some 34 per cent of repairs were completed late in both December and November last year. That’s an increase on 32 per cent completed late in October and 33 per cent in September.

And it’s a large increase on the 28 per cent completed late in July, and the 23 per cent in June.

Slough Borough Council’s cabinet – its leading group of councillors – is set to discuss the report on Monday, April 15.