A FAMILY of ten squeezed into a three-bed house in Oxford have begged for a bigger home after the council forced them to tear down a conservatory in their back garden.
Stewart Davenport has lived in the property with his partner and their eight children and step children, aged between one and 15, for almost five years.
But with their eldest child set to give birth in September the family are now desperate to move into a more spacious home.
Mr Davenport said he built a conservatory himself to give the family more room but Oxford City Council said it had to be pulled down because it didn’t have planning permission.
He said his family had nowhere to store their clothes and the kids were struggling to find space to do their school work.
After the introduction of Universal Credit, the new welfare system that bundles six existing payments into a single monthly payment, the family survive on just £500 a month.
Mr Davenport told the Oxford Mail: “We have a mattress which we have to drag downstairs every night and we sleep in the front room.
“Five of the kids have to share one room but they get scared and come down to us so we’re often all in the same room together.
“We had to have an ambulance come a few months ago and the paramedics couldn’t believe that there were so many people sleeping in the same place.”
He added: “We have to keep all their clothes in boxes on the landing because there is no room for wardrobes in the bedrooms. They can’t have any of their toys and games out because there is no space.
“Their studies are suffering because there’s nowhere to sit quietly and read. They have never got their own space and their behaviour is getting worse.”
The family have tried to exchange their council house with another family but said people are reluctant as their property is in a crime-ridden part of the city.
They were told this week by the council that a larger home might soon be available to them.
Stephen Clarke, Head of Housing Services, said: “We don’t comment on individual cases, but we are working with a number of families in overcrowded accommodation to find long term answers to their housing problems.
“These could include building extensions to existing homes or helping people move to a larger home.
“While we empathise with the difficulty a family may face living in an overcrowded home, there are no quick fixes and finding a sustainable solution takes time.”
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