A GROUP of elderly residents at a sheltered housing complex in Bradford have successfully petitioned the owner to install more accessible bathrooms in their flats.

Residents at Stonebridge, in Idlecroft Road, Idle, currently have traditional bathtubs with showers, which can make getting in and out of the bath difficult for some residents with mobility problems.

But Anchor, which owns Stonebridge, has now said the bathrooms will be refurbished before March next year.

The campaign was led by Barbara Brown, 77, who has lived at Stonebridge for five years.

She said: “I have been asking for more accessible bathrooms since I first moved in.

“I started a petition which 44 of the 56 residents here signed.

“Some people would prefer wet rooms, and I would prefer a shower cubicle, but we don’t know what we will be getting yet.

“We are all overjoyed. Some of the older residents told me I was wasting my time, but we have been successful.”

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) supported the residents in their campaign.

She said: “I welcome, at last, the response from Anchor and look forwards to the residents being able to have their bathrooms modernised.

“They’ve campaigned hard for it and deserve the success. Older and vulnerable should all have showers in wet rooms as standard so they can get washed in safety and comfortably.

“They shouldn’t have the worry of falling or not being able to get back out of the bath.”

Vicky Bell, Anchor’s team manager for the area, said the process to approve plans for the new bathrooms had been ongoing for several months.

She said: “When the district manager, Sharon McDickens, met with the tenants in the autumn she explained that there would be no further news on the bathrooms until at least April 2017 because the board had to decide a budget and then Sharon and our property asset team work on the plan.

“Being a national company with over 1,000 properties across our portfolio of rented housing, leasehold housing and care homes, I am sure you can appreciate that planning the works does get done several months in advance.

“I am pleased to confirm the refurbishment of the bathrooms is included in our 2017-18 major planned works programme.

“The delivery of the whole programme is over the course of April 2017 to March 2018, we have no confirmed date for this work to start at the moment.”