A couple are appealing for a larger flat so they can look after their disabled daughter - but a council is refusing to give them one.

One-year-old Leela Hussain is one of only 39 people in the UK to suffer with a rare form of muscular atrophy, along with arthogryposis, and she can barely move from the waist down.

Because of her condition, she requires large, specialist equipment to be able to move around and sit up. But her parents Lucy and Jakir said their two-bedroom, first floor flat in Copperdale Court, Watford, is too small to contain it and unsuitable considering Leela will soon be in a power chair.

With Leela being only one, Watford Borough Council said she does not need her own room and suggested that she shares with her five-year-old sister Maya. But Leela often wakes during the night in pain, and Lucy said sharing a room will disrupt her sister’s sleep and studies.

Mrs Hussain said: “My husband and I feel very let down by the council. We feel as though our daughter and family’s needs don’t matter.

“We’re not asking for a mansion, we just one a three-bedroom, ground floor flat or house. Every time I visit my friends and family I have to carry all the equipment down the stairs, and I almost fell while carrying Leela recently.

“It’s hard enough attending doctors’ appointments every week and trying to explain to her sister why Leela can’t walk, and why she isn’t like other children her age. We don’t want this unnecessary stress from the council.”

Leela requires weekly physiotherapy sessions but Mrs Hussain said there is not enough room in the flat for them.

A physiotherapist and three other medical professionals have written to the council urging them to rehouse the Hussain family, but their appeal has been denied and the family has now had to write to the ombudsman.

When Leela is 30 months old, she will be eligible for a charity-funded power chair. But the charity will be unable to supply the chair until the family live in a bigger house.

Mrs Hussain said: “The size of the flat is really affecting Leela’s development. The council said we might qualify for a bigger flat if Leela had a power chair, but we can’t get it until we have a bigger house.

“There’s nothing more we can do now. We just have to wait.”

Mrs Hussain has reached out to Watford MP Richard Harrington but he said he was unable to help. Watford Borough councillor Karen Collett is appealing on their behalf but said she is waiting to hear back from the housing department.

She said: “I am sympathetic to Lucy’s daughter’s needs and will do my best to pursue the matter.”

Watford Borough Council cabinet member for property and housing Stephen Johnson said: “In this very tight housing market, demand is high and waiting lists are extremely long. We have an unprecedented number of homeless people in temporary housing, many of whom are families.

“We have more than 200 families who meet the criteria waiting for three-bedroom properties and only 15 became available between April 2016 and March 2017. These families could be waiting for many years.

“We’ve already reduced the pressure as much as possible by tightening the residency connection requirement that eligible households must be ‘living in Watford now and have lived five years out of the last six years in the borough of Watford’ but we simply don’t have the housing supply we need.”