Squirrels use scaffolding to break in and raid food from block of flats

Squirrels have taken over a block of flats because they can climb up scaffolding and into people’s windows.

The scaffolding at Sumner Buildings in central London was erected 18 months ago to replace 100-year-old windows.

It was meant to take six to eight weeks but deadlines keep getting pushed back, and as well as the squirrel invasion, residents have mould and rot on their windows.

Professor Mark Miodownik, MBE, has lived in his top-floor flat with wife Ruby Wright and their two children for 25 years and said: ‘The squirrels are constantly up and down the scaffolding.

‘If you leave a window open, they’re always poking their little heads in.

‘They have the run of the place now – they think the scaffolding is all for them. They love it.

‘If you leave windows open, they come in and steal snacks.’

Talking about the scaffolding, he added: ‘They’re spending public money. If this was run by a private company, they wouldn’t be spending money like this.

‘It’s more than half a million pounds wasted in a time of austerity. They have not even said when they will be starting the work.

‘The Head of Works at the City of London Corporation needs to resign over this. They need to take responsibility. It’s incompetence.’

Mark doesn’t want to see the squirrels killed off but other residents like NHS volunteer Jackie are ‘frightened’ of them.

She lives on the top floor too and said: ‘We never had them before the scaffolding – especially at the top.

‘I was chopping up strawberries last year and when I came back into the kitchen a squirrel was trying to get to them.

‘Sometimes they hide behind towels when you hang them on the balcony.

‘They have got more and more daring. It’s all a big game to them.

‘I’ve had to throw away the grass on my balcony because they peed on it. They don’t care.

‘At first I would shoo them away but now they don’t move. It’s just not on.’

Joyce Paul, 65, has lived on the estate for 27 years and said the squirrels are a ‘nightmare’.

‘They’ve been in a couple of flats and literally wrecked them,’ she said.

‘My daughter lives over the road and she’s petrified of the squirrels. I can’t stand them.’

City of London Corporation erected the scaffolding and said in a statement: ‘Whilst the window installations at Sumner Buildings have been delayed, redecoration work has progressed.

‘A letter detailing the latest update on the project was sent to residents.

‘We are investing around £107million in a Housing Major Works Programme to bring all homes across our 12 social housing estates up to a high standard by 2026.

‘This includes a £47m investment in replacement windows.

‘It is imperative that the window designs meet the requirements of building regulations and high standards required by the City Corporation and our residents.’

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