DAD Raymond Pearce says his family's flat is so damp that they often find slugs and snails on his eight-year-old daughter's bed.

Mr Pearce, his partner Tracey Buckley, and their two children have been waiting a year and-a-half to be moved to a more suitable council home from their two bedroom flat.

"We have water literally dripping of the window," said Mr Pearce, 26, of Shelburne House, Blind Lane in Bourne End. "When we first moved in I'd never suffered from asthma but six months later I was told I had it.

"We have been to that many people at the council about this and over the number of repairs that need doing. We are just getting fed up now and it is affecting our health."

The couple are worried that the state of the flat is making their daughters, one-year-old Kira and Ruby, eight, ill.

Miss Buckley said: "We have been finding slugs and snails in Ruby's bedroom and mould growing up the walls."

Mr Pearce, who suffers from asthma and phoriasis, said the family had submitted all the medical forms that were required to get them moved up the council waiting list but nothing had happened.

A spokesman for Wycombe District Council, said: "Miss Buckley and Mr Pearce were registered on the transfer list following the birth of their second child, in June 2000.

"They now qualify for a three-bedroom property. Additional medical priority was awarded to their application in January 2001 and since January the application had been awarded. Currently there are transfer applicants with a higher priority than Miss Buckley and Mr Pearce.

"The dampness in the property is due to lifestyle position of furniture and lack of ventilation and in such cases the council does not normally take action. However, in this case the council is to fit a condensation unit in this flat to try and alleviate the problem and we are awaiting an installation date from the contractor."