How Leeds' Decent Homes programme has changed Rosemary's life » Housing » 24dash.com

For 25 years, Rosemary Windsor has had to banish anyone else from using her kitchen – because there simply wasn’t enough room!

But now the grandmother from north Leeds is enjoying a brand new kitchen and bathroom as new figures reveal a massive city-wide scheme to upgrade Leeds’ 57,000 council homes is set to top £620 million by next April.

Thanks to Leeds City Council’s investment in its massive ‘Decent Homes’ programme of upgrades, council tenants across the city have seen old kitchens and bathrooms replaced, while others have seen significant improvements to their home’s structure.

As part of the scheme Mrs Windsor, who lives just north of Leeds city centre with her husband, has had her postage stamp of a kitchen replaced with one double the size, while her upstairs bathroom has been enlarged and replaced.

In a massive programme of work, £520million of such improvements has so far been delivered by the city’s Arms Length Management Organisations, meaning there are now 17,800 more ‘decent’ properties in Leeds than there were three years ago.

78% of the city’s council houses now meet the government's Decent Homes standard and a further £100million of investment is planned over the next year, bringing it up to 85%.

It means the council and ALMOs are on target to deliver the government’s ‘Decent Homes’ standard to Leeds by the deadline of 2011.

By 2011, the amount spent on bringing homes up to the Decency Standard will total more than £720 million.

The works have varied in size from internal improvements such as kitchen and bathroom replacements, and installation of central heating through to external works such as replacing windows, external doors and roofs.

There have even been homes which have had whole new external walls built around them to create cavity walls for insulation.

Many of these improvements have not only improved the decency standard of properties but also improved their energy efficiency and so contributed towards reducing ‘fuel poverty’ in council housing.

Councillor Les Carter, executive board member for housing, said: “Providing decent homes for the council tenants of Leeds has been one of this council’s top priorities and the sheer amount of investment we have made shows that we are taking it seriously.

“Despite decades of under-investment in the city’s council housing, we are on target to reach the government’s decency standard within the next two years.

“Improving people’s homes can make a major impact on their lives and with the ALMOs we are committed to maintaining the city’s council housing at the highest standard possible.”

DECENT HOMES CASE STUDY: Mrs Rosemary Windsor, Scott Hall Avenue, Leeds.

Mrs Windsor has lived in her council house on Scott Hall Avenue for 25 years and has lived on the same street her whole life. One of nine siblings, she said she couldn’t wait to show off her new kitchen and bathroom, delivered as part of the Decent Homes scheme.

The work by council contractors took five weeks and Mrs Windsor said it would give her space to cook when her three grandchildren come to stay.

Mrs Windsor is a tenant of East North East Homes Leeds, one of the three council-owned Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) that maintain and manage council housing in Leeds.

Mrs Windsor described her old kitchen: “On one side there was a toilet, on the other side was a bathroom, so it wasn’t a kitchen, it was a scullery, as my mother used to call it; a tiny, tiny horrible little thing.

"It was tiny, you had your sink, you could just about fit a washing machine, if you had a twin tub it had to go across the back door. You had your sink, you could get a fridge in – just – in one corner. One wall cupboard, one bottom cupboard and your cooker. And that was it. Anything else, you had to put in front of the back door and move it around.

Commenting on the work that has been carried out she said: "Now, it’s beautiful, I love it. It’s fantastic, it means more than one person can fit in there!

"It’s beautiful to look at – my walls were shocking before, they were damp, they were horrible, it didn’t matter how many times you washed them down you couldn’t get rid of it. But now, it’s absolutely wonderful – the room, the space, being able to move about.

“To keep it tidy is so much easier, because you’ve got room to put stuff away now and you couldn’t before.

“Now I’ve got 18 cupboards, nine drawers, the most amazing kitchen and it’s beautifully tiled, you’ve got plenty of work tops to work on, it’s absolutely massive compared to what it was – it’s double the size, at least.

“Upstairs I had three bedrooms so they’ve taken part of one of the rooms and created a small bathroom, which is what you need, you don’t need a massive bathroom to move about in but your kitchen you do, you need to be able to move, you need to feel comfortable.

“I was brought up in the street and have lived her most of my life, and I was never happy with the house as it was, you just couldn’t take any pride in it, it was horrible. But now … I think the council have done a fabulous job, best thing they’ve ever done.

“Not before time, but welcome nevertheless.”