Cash from the sale of council houses is to be spent on long-awaited improvements to homes in Elmwood Road, Keighley. Bradford councillors have pledged that work on the 20 houses on the Bracken Bank estate will be carried out by next April.

Tenants of the council-owned homes had sent a petition demanding the £360,000 of improvements were carried out. Cllr Jim O'Neill, chairman of the housing services sub-committee, told members on Tuesday that cash had now been found. Funding comes from around £750,000 of 'capital receipts' - proceeds from past sales of council houses, that the government is allowing the council to spend.

Keighley Tenants Alliance, which represents residents of council houses, and ward cou-ncillor John Prestage both say they received personal pledges from Cllr O'Neill. Alliance spo-kesman Melvyn Dempster says: "He assured me he would keep his eye on it and make sure it's rushed through as soon as possible."

The 20 houses were scheduled for refurbishment in Oct-ober 1996 but plans were she-lved following government cuts to Bradford's budget.

Health professionals recently claimed the poor state of the houses could affect residents' health.

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