And now a local councillor is demanding immediate remedial action for the properties on Westleigh's Trees estate from Wigan and Leigh Housing Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO).

The tenants allege that:
* Door seals have failed letting in rain.
* Wiring is not properly insulated and now represents a fire risk.
* No cavity insulation between the walls of some homes.

Now Coun Norman Bradbury, an Independent, wants a pledge from ALMO that they will carry out an immediate and thorough inspection of the potential problems so that they can draw up a priority works schedule.

He fears that there could be 'tens and tens' of the hundreds of homes on The Trees - each road takes its name from a species - potentially affected.

His alarm call was triggered after a camera he commissioned to be poked through a hole drilled in a wall found that a supposedly cavity wall insulated home had no such insulation at all.

Coun Bradbury said: "To be quite frank, the problems the tenants of The Trees are reporting with their houses just beggar belief.

"I'm not saying the council have done this work, but their contractors have.

"These complaints started reaching me 12 months ago and at first I too doubted what I was being told.

"But now I have seen homes supposedly with cavity wall insulation which, despite the fact that there are holes in the walls which would indicate that it has had insulation injected, doesn't exist at all.

"Even worse, the camera I commissioned found in one home that the wiring had been laid down the cavity itself during a rewiring, which, I believe is contrary to building regulations and practice if not downright illegal.

"And this now means that nothing could be done to rectify the cavity wall insulation until the electric wiring is sorted out.

"I saw a front door which, despite umpteen repairs, still doesn't stop water coming into the entrance hall when it rains.

"It's horrendous and no wonder the tenants think their estate has just been conveniently forgotten about."

He is calling on WLH to immediately inspect property on the Trees Estate and said: "I want answers to the basis questions of just how many properties on the estate don't have adequate cavity wall insulation and how many have been rewired illegally?"