It seems that good news may be on the way for council tenants in Dringhouses who are waiting for much-needed home improvements.

Tenants were invited to an exhibition at Foxwood Community Centre in July 2022 to select from a range of products and materials to modernise their homes. It had been expected that the improvement works (formerly known as ‘Tenants Choice’) would get underway in the 2022/23 financial year, but this did not happen.

Residents have contacted their local councillors to seek confirmation of when they can expect the work to begin, and Cllr Stephen Fenton has received the following update from the council’s Housing team:

“We have been finalising a procurement exercise to appoint 2 contractors to undertake the works on our Home Improvements Programme (previously named tenants choice) as previous contracts had expired. I am pleased to say that this has concluded and our programme for this year is just about finalised. This will see us make a start on Dringhouses as well as attempt to gain access to the properties which have previously missed out on this work on estates where works have previously been completed. I must stress, not all properties awaiting work or missing out on work previously will commence this year and this is being planned over a number of years. A letter is drafted to send out to all properties in Dringhouses and the list of properties not completed elsewhere to inform them of the approach to the home improvements this year and the names of the contractors appointed and will soon be sent out now the contractors are confirmed.

I understand that expectations may have been raised with an event and there may have been intentions to start before now and if there has been no formal communication to this point, we apologise for that. All tenants affected by works this year will be notified in advance to allow them time to make plans for the works to take place. Once again, I apologise for any lack of effective communication to this point that may have caused distress to anybody living in our properties.”

Stephen has asked for a copy of the letter that is to be sent to residents.