A HOUSE extension worth more than £25,000 that was meant to enhance the life of a sick toddler has left her unable to move freely around her home. Two-year-old Ellie Libby suffers from serious breathing difficulties and a new porch – paid for by a Government Disability Grant – was meant to store equipment and files and create more space in her home. But the porch has been taken over by damp, leaving Ellie, of Looe, stuck in virtually one room. 'The walls in the extension are black and covered in spores,' Ellie's mum Julie said. 'They could really cause Ellie damage so we have to keep her well away. 'Ellie is really confined to the lounge and we don't bath her as much as we did as to get to the bathroom we have to carry her across the porch.' Ellie was born with serious breathing difficulties and was the inspiration behind a fundraising campaign in the Looe area to buy Plymouth's Derriford Hospital a new endoscope – a camera designed to look inside the body – for use on children. Parents Nigel, 46 and Ellie's full time carer, and florist Julie, 38, received the grant for their home in January 2005. When the extension was finished in March the couple were excited at the new lease of life it gave them. 'It was lovely – it was amazing,' Julie said. 'It took a lot of stuff out of our front room. It gave us so much more living space in the house. 'Electric pointing was put out there so we could have Ellie's machines.' But problems began only a few months later. 'It started with water coming in the door. It was general rain and was not heavy,' Julie said. 'Then the water was coming through, getting on the tiles and was running through the grouting.' The couple complained to Caradon District Council – which oversees payments of the disability grants – to try and solve the problems. 'Caradon sent two or three guys on different occasions to tighten the door but it did not work,' Julie said. 'We had one guy come back and he dug a well so water could flow away but it was not deep enough.' With the problem not solved, the couple are looking for the council to take the next step. 'We had another man from Caradon who offered to set the door where it previously had been before the porch was built,' Julie said. 'If that still doesn't solve the problem it would be best to have the porch knocked down.' A Caradon District Council spokesman said the grant was originally given for a space to change out of wet clothes and the removal of the door to the porch was not what they had paid the grant for. 'Any other adaptations to the area would have to be funded by the family themselves,' he said. 'However, we did offer to work to return the front door to where it should have been.'
