ELDERLY residents in an east Cleveland village are angry that a seven-year saga over their windows has not been resolved

Last month, pensioners living in council properties in Shepherd Court and Fenton Street, Boosbeck, sent a petition to Ian Sim, director of housing at Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, asking for the windows to be replaced.

The houses were built in the early 1980s and have a form of secondary glazing which allows residents to remove the glass for cleaning.

Yesterday, the residents took their battle to the town hall in Eston, where the council's housing advisory panel was meeting.

Councillor Steve Kay, who is backing the pensioners, said the panel accepted that people living in houses with this type of secondary glazing should be given high priority.

But the authority plans to set up a company to improve its housing stock and any improvements will be delayed until the new body is in place.

Coun Kay said: "We are very disappointed as we think these windows are dangerous and something should be done immediately, not just for the people living in Boosbeck, but for people living in similar houses in Skinningrove and Lingdale. We will keep up the pressure at every opportunity.

"In 1993, the council admitted the windows were a serious problem and they were saying at that time they were looking for money to do something about the problem, but we are still no further down the road."

Fenton Street resident Mary Murphy, 77, was the first resident in the accommodation 20 years ago and said she is "very bitter" about the saga.

She said she has to climb and kneel on the kitchen sink to clean her windows and has to balance on the toilet and the edge of the bath to clean the ones in the bathroom.

She has injured herself once - when she dropped a pane of glass onto her leg, and said many of her friends had injured themselves.

Andy Powell, deputy director of housing, said the council was sympathetic to the elderly residents.

He said: "We understand the difficulties they have with these windows and we are looking to see what we can do to help them in the short term.