One of the housing services which earned the City of York Council today's beacon status was its popular Tenants' Choice scheme. You only have to visit Ikea or B&Q on a Sunday to observe the British people's obsession with their homes.

Jeannette Stevenson and her son Paul in the smart new kitchen which was updated under City of York Council's Tenant's Choice programme.

One of the main delights of home ownership is choosing the design of the latest room to be done up and or the right people to do the job. And it was this desire to always have a choice that inspired one of the schemes that came in for praise today.

The Tenants' Choice scheme was designed to offer tenants more say in improvements in their homes, based on the approach owner-occupiers would take.

Busy mum Jeannette Stevenson moved into her house in Darnborough Street, off Bishopthorpe Road, in 1980.

"The kitchen used to be full of orange units with a big chimney breast in the middle, they were solid enough but it was very badly planned," she said.

When she was approached about having improvements done under Tenants' Choice, Jeannette got to choose the builders, the style of the units in the kitchen and a suite for the bathroom.

One of the first things she asked for was the chimney breast to be moved. She chose white kitchen units from a choice of six different designs and asked for mainly floor units with two corner wall units.

She also got a white bathroom suite fitted and used money left over from the kitchen budget for extra bathroom tiling.

Although the work was scheduled to last three weeks, it only took two and Jeannette and her youngest son Paul, 13, are pleased with the results.

She said: "They do give you a choice and you do get a lot of say in what you get."

During an earlier round of Tenants' Choice, Jeannette had her heating and windows upgraded. All improvements lead to a rent increase of up to £6 a week depending on the amount of work done. Alanna Kertland, who lives in a ground-floor flat in Fossway, said she had had her kitchen done under the scheme.

"The council has always been very good to me. I can only give them 110 out of 100."

The latest independent market research commissioned by the council showed between 90 and 99 per cent of tenants were satisfied with their homes after the work had been done.

Tenants' Choice was one of four areas of the housing service that earned the council its beacon status - a recognition of the way it does things.

The other services were its responsive repair service, its planned maintenance programme - which involves a money-saving partnership with ICI paints - and letting of empty homes.

Bob Towner, director of community services, said: "The major point is the extent to which each of these service areas have been directly affected by customer views. They are publicly informed, not professionally driven.

"That is what is different about York's approach. It's about outcomes for people and prioritising things like a customer would prioritise them. We've got to spend money so every penny counts.

"I'm obviously extremely pleased and proud both for the City of York and for the staff involved, who over a number of years have been developing programmes and this is a tremendous tribute to them."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.