Families on a half-demolished Bradford estate are demanding action after claims they have been left in the dark about the future of their home.

Four families still remain in flats in the Gaisby Lane area of Bolton Woods, which were earmarked for demolition before Christmas last year.

The demolition work - still in process - is being carried out by Bradford Council to make way for a multi-thousand pound scheme to build 65 town houses and nine flats planned by the Yorkshire Metropolitan Housing Association.

But months after the first flats were demolished, worried tenants say they are still waiting to be re-housed. Meanwhile they say the are having to live with vandals and thieves who are targeting flats which have lain empty for months.

Father-of-three Carl Bancroft, 32, who lives in one of the remaining blocks, said: "We're fed up of hearing windows being smashed in and people in the empty flats downstairs.

"One time we looked out of the window and saw a couple carrying a boiler they'd stolen from one of the flats away to a car.

"A lot of the time it's kids who are messing around in the empty flats, but when we hear them in the flats beneath us, we're afraid they might start fires or cause flooding if they start moving the boilers.

"My wife and children are living in fear - originally we were told that they wouldn't let any families live on their own.

"Now we just don't know what's going to happen next - we seem to have been kept in the dark about the whole thing."

Mr Bancroft said that his family had been offered alternative accommodation in the past, but that it was miles away from their present Bolton Woods home.

"At first we were told we would be top priority and that we'd be given a house in the area of our choice, and yet still nothing's been done," he said.

A spokesman for Bradford Council's Windhill Housing Office said: "Mr Bancroft and his family are being treated as a priority but unfortunately, the areas where they want to move to are very popular and we rarely get vacant properties.

"We can assure the family that as soon as a suitable property in an area of their choice becomes available it will be offered to them.

"We have explained that they could move out of Gaisby Rise much sooner if they were willing to widen their choice of preferred areas and we have offered them two properties which were turned down.

"There seems to have been an increase in vandalism in the last two weeks but we do try to keep the empty flats secure. The police are also aware that redevelopment is taking place in the area.

"If the family wants to discuss any particular concerns, housing officers will be happy to talk to them.''

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