Further Refurbishment Planned for Council Houses in Chesterfield

A further £69 million is to be spent on improving local council houses.

Chesterfield Borough Council is on target to ensure that all of the 9,500 homes it owns and manages will meet the government’s Decent Homes standard by the end of March, and can now begin additional upgrades to properties.  The Decent Homes standard requires all houses to meet set criteria that ensure they are warm, protected from the weather and have modern facilities.

Additional work is scheduled to take place over the next three years to:

• Install cavity wall insulation and replace older central heating systems in homes.
• Replace roofs, old UPVC windows and install external wall insulation
• Improve the environments of some housing estates, including the London Boroughs estate in Barrow Hill in 2015/16 and the Holmehall estate in 2016/17, for example creating roads, garden space and better parking areas
• Construct four new build houses in Rufford Close, Boythorpe
• Buy selected properties on the open market which meet a housing need.

Councillor Jim McManus, Chesterfield Borough Council’s Executive Member for Housing, said:

“It is a real achievement to have got our council homes to the Government’s Decent Homes Standard and delivers on our promise to tenants.

“But we don’t want to stop there because we believe council homes are not second class. They should be every bit as good as the private sector can offer.

“The extra £69 million investment we are now making over the next three years will enable us to maintain the high standards we have already met and then go over and above them.”

The funding for the housing improvements is separate to normal day-to-day council spending and cannot be spent on any other council service.

Recent changes in the rules mean councils can borrow money to invest in housing, with repayments funded by the income received from council tenants.