Hope lost in window row

Elderly people who live in Fenton Street and Shepherd Court, in Boosbeck, have had a long-running battle with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

The houses were built in the early Eighties with a form of glazing requiring the glass to be removed for cleaning and several residents have suffered accidents.

The residents claim the council built up their hopes eight years ago to glaze the windows but the work has never been done.

Last summer they sent a letter to the council to ask for the work to be done, but without success and the Local Government Ombudsman has refused to compel the council to do the work.

Council housing in Redcar and Cleveland is the subject of a secret ballot on whether to transfer the ownership and management of the borough's 12,000 council homes to a new not-for-profit company which can access money for repairs that the council, under current legislation, cannot.

Coun Steve Kay, who represents East Cleveland, is supporting the pensioners. He said: "There have been quite a lot of promises given to the people by the promoters of this company and I just hope that these promises are fulfilled, especially with the particular problem of the windows in Boosbeck and other parts of East Cleveland."

Coun David Walsh, leader of the council, said: "If tenants vote for the transfer it would mean a very large scale programme of house repairs and renewals, which will be far greater than anything the council could finance under present arrangements.

"Obviously the windows at Boosbeck would have to have their priority investigated."

In a letter to residents, the Ombudsman said the council had agreed to remove and clean the panes once a quarter.

She added that the promise to replace the windows in 1993 was conditional on the money needed - £10,000 - being available in the budget. She said she accepted that the council had not had this money spare since then and therefore would not be taking the investigation further.