A YOUNG family has faced living with the sound of vermin crawling in neighbouring abandoned buildings in part of Teesside.

The harrowing case was one of a number of examples offered to Stockton councillors this week on the daily reality health workers were seeing in some borough homes.

Lisa Robinson, who covers the Port Clarence, Billingham and Wynyard area for the borough’s 0 to 19 service, passed on accounts of the struggles faced in one Port Clarence home at a select committee meeting on Wednesday.

Read more: Taking hard drugs socially 'unacceptable' after drug deaths

And she revealed how homes with disrepair, damp, mould and shoddy carpets were being seen on the front line – with an example of one young Port Clarence mum suffering in Port Clarence.

Ms Robinson said: “The health visitor who went was absolutely appalled and wrote an email to her local MP.

“She said it was a lovely young mum with a new baby. Both houses next to her were boarded up – and she said she could actually hear rats scurrying around at night.

“There are some really nice parts of Port Clarence but this was a part where most of it is (owned by) private landlords.

“She is surrounded by drug dealers, crime and violence.

“We’ve got another mum who got her windows put through and it was boarded up for two weeks because they thought a drug dealer, who lived there previously, lived there now.

“She got targeted with a small child in that house.”

Read more: Two dozen treasury staff had “office drinks” while England was in lockdown

Councillors are also examining the scale of child poverty in Stockton and what’s being done to close the inequality gap between affluent parts of the borough and more deprived areas.

There are plenty of services trying to help Teessiders struggling – such as family hubs across the borough and charities.

The children and young people select committee heard how health visitors had seen the inequality gap in the borough widen further during the pandemic.

Ms Robinson said: “It’s not that people don’t necessarily want to work, but they might struggle to afford to work."

Read more: These are 5 of the most viewed homes for sale in Darlington this month

-----

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow our dedicated Teesside Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054