A COUNCIL has conceded it is yet to install more than a thousand carbon monoxide detectors in the homes of elderly tenants.

The Northern Echo reported in August how some elderly and infirm Durham City Council tenants had been waiting months for devices to be replaced after they reached the end of their working life.

The local authority was subsequently accused of blundering by failing to have enough spare detectors in stock, and not ordering replacement parts early enough.

It was thought that all the devices would be replaced within a matter of a few weeks after replacement stock began to arrive.

But last night, the council said the detectors, which warn of potentially deadly carbon monoxide gas, were still being fitted on a "priority basis".

Councillor Paul Taylor, who first brought the issue to people's attention, said: "We still have residents who have not had them fitted and we are now ten or 11 weeks down the line. People are due an apology. I have asked for letters to be sent to council tenants to allay their fears, but that has fallen on deaf ears."

At a full council meeting on Wednesday night, Coun Taylor said the affair had "caused distress and anxiety to many elderly and vulnerable people".

In a written response, Councillor Les Thomson, the council's portfolio holder for communities and housing, said that 2,373 council properties had CO alarms fitted.

He said that of those, as at September 24, 1,354 detectors had been replaced with approximately 1,019 outstanding.

The council was now receiving 50 CO replacement cartridges a day, but had been completely dependant initially on the delivery of parts from its supplier Honeywell.

Honeywell, which assembles component parts made in China for the detectors, had acknowledged that it was experiencing an acute shortage of such units.

Coun Thomson said: "Once again, can I reiterate that the health and safety of all of our residents on the Council's City Care system is of extreme importance.

"Due to our comprehensive gas servicing and maintenance regime, we have a 100 per cent safety record with regards to escape of carbon monoxide gases.

"Since the CO detectors were originally installed approximately seven years ago, there has never been an alarm activation where we have recorded a positive CO sample."

He added that in future replacement parts would be held in the council's stores and gas service vans as an "impressed stock item".