A group of campaigning residents are ready to say goodbye to their homes after months of campaigning to save them from demolition.

Bradford Council ordered the eight 'Airey houses' off Town Lane, Thackley, to be pulled-down because they suffer from major structural faults.

The residents - many of whom are elderly - had refused to move, insisting that the properties should be repaired, which the Council estimated would cost £40,000.

But they have now accepted the Council's proposals which will see the properties replaced with eight similar houses operated by the Brunel Housing Association.

One of the residents Julie Rackham said, even though the houses were coming down, the campaigning had been worthwhile.

"In the beginning, they just dropped the bombshell on us and said the houses were coming down and that was that," she said.

"We were just so shocked and we saw the way the Council had treated other residents in our situation, and they had just been ignored.

"Without our campaign, they would have put 14 houses on this plot and pushed the rents up. The struggle has made some of us quite unwell, but at least we have achieved something. Obviously, we didn't want the houses to go, and really they should have been repaired years ago and all this would have been avoided."

Mrs Rackham added that the residents would be demanding a written guarantee of the offer before anyone moved out.

But Geraldine Howley, Bradford Council's director of housing, said she had received reassurances from Brunel that the project would go-ahead.

The Council has agreed to give the land to the association free of charge because the houses are larger than Brunel usually builds, she said.

"Now that it seems everyone agrees with the project, we are keen to get the demolition underway as soon as possible," said Mrs Howley.

She the Council would also pay up to £400 per month to the residents to cover rent in their temporary accommodation and pay "any costs" associated with the move.

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, (Lib Dem, Idle) said she was happy with the package the Council was now offering.

"I think the tenants are feeling more comfortable with things now, but clearly we have to work very hard to deliver our promises," she said. "I don't think the Council can ever make up for the 20 years of neglect it has shown towards these people, but we need to be more sensitive now. I am absolutely confident that the new scheme will go ahead and the tenants will be looked after."

But the Council was left red-faced after a list of possible temporary accommodation sent to the residents included one of the 12 homes to be demolished.

Mrs Howley said it had been an "embarrassing error" which would be amended.

John McCabe, 84, who has lived in his home since it was built in 1951, said the blunder typified the way residents had been treated.

Demolition work could begin within weeks, and it is hoped residents will be in their new homes by September 2002.