MORE than 1,000 council house tenants in York are to benefit from nearly £10 million of improvements to their homes.

Tenants in parts of Tang Hall, Foxwood, Clifton and other areas of the city will see millions spent on modernising and maintaining their homes in the coming year, if councillors give City of York Council's housing budget the green light.

The main proposals include spending:

£2.2 million modernising 181 homes in Tang Hall

£1.2 million improving 103 homes in Foxwood

£404,000 modernising 33 homes in Clifton

£333,000 renovating 32 homes at the Delwood sheltered housing scheme

£703,000 modernising 100 homes under the "backfill" process - revisiting areas where previous tenants opted not to take part in upgrades

£1.6 million providing new heating to a further 528 homes

£450,000 re-roofing a further 141 homes.

Coun Sue Sunderland, pictured, the council's housing chief, said the amount of work the authority would be doing was "really impressive against the current budget climate".

"I am delighted to propose spending £2.2 million in the Tang Hall area, and a further £1.2 million in Foxwood on Tenants' Choice home modernisations," she said.

"Overall, we expect to upgrade many hundreds of homes, providing new central heating, kitchens, windows, flooring and decoration."

The council has 8,000 tenants. The authority is committed to spending £67 million over the next five years on improving the lives of those who live in council accommodation.

Council leader Steve Galloway hailed the investment as the largest attempted in York, and said tenants were happy with the service they were receiving from the authority.

He said: "Very high levels of customer satisfaction are now being achieved, with tenants particularly praising the comprehensive "York Pride" approach to modernisation.

"We are well on course to meet and exceed central government decent homes standards by the end of the decade.

"The Liberal Democrats have a continuing commitment to providing excellent homes for both council tenants, and those in the private sector."

The council also proposes to spend £354,000 on upgrading lighting, security, outside spaces and communal areas at some homes in a bid to "enhance" neighbourhoods.

Rent increases, which are largely determined by a Government formula, will rise by £2.56 a week on average, to £54.37 a week.

But Coun Sunderland said York would lose nearly £5 million to the Government through the housing subsidy, where the city has to pay income from its rents to give to other councils, such as Manchester and London.

Sandra and John Caple have lived in their council house in Pottery Road, York, for the last 29 years. The couple, aged 50 and 53, have just finished the Tenants' Choice refurbishment programme

COUNCIL workers took two weeks to transform Sandra and John's house - installing a new kitchen, boiler, carrying out electrical rewiring, and fitting new tiles and cupboards.

The couple said they were delighted with the results. "We have got a brand new kitchen with new cupboards. It has been rewired. We were given a new toilet and sink. The workers were excellent. They told us what they were doing at every stage," Sandra said. "It was easy. I am really pleased with the kitchen. I have more cupboard space, and it has made everything a lot better.

"They started the work on January 4 and they had finished it on January 20. It was really worth it and I am really pleased I went through it."

Sandra urged people who may find themselves offered the chance to have their houses modernised to take part and enjoy the benefits.

"My kitchen is fitted to me personally. I had a choice of designs. It has really made my life a lot better and now we are getting used to a dream come true. I would definitely go through it again."

Satisfaction among City of York Council tenants remains high, with 78 per cent saying they are very or fairly satisfied, and 82 per cent agreeing the council is a good landlord.

Updated: 09:54 Wednesday, February 01, 2006