Housing chiefs have drawn up a £30 million shopping list on five estates which won a huge injection of cash 18 months ago - but the list may never become a reality.

The £17.6 million award from the Government's Single Regeneration budget for the Newlands estates in Bradford is for fighting crime, improving education and training, and taking people out of the dole queues.

But delight has turned to dismay because the Council has failed to draw in funds from the Government or Europe for the thousands of run-down homes. Housing chiefs estimate that it will cost £30 million over the next ten years to fund all the improvements on Ravenscliffe, Greengates, Bradford Moor, Fagley and Thorpe Edge.

And now a major action plan is expected to go out to consultation with tenants. It will contain a mammoth shopping list - including new kitchens and bathrooms, new heating and insulation, and new windows and doors.

A project officer would also be designated to come up with ways of funding a package to give a better housing deal to the residents.

One option would be to look at pioneering schemes with private funding, where a company could be brought in, but the majority of the stock could be left in council ownership. To start the ball rolling the Council may allocate £1 million a year over the next five years from its annual Government allowance to improve houses across the district.

Chairman of the Housing and Environmental Protection Committee, Councillor Jim O'Neill, said the Newlands award was a "very bad example" of the Single Regeneration Budget.

Chairman of Ravenscliffe and Greengates Residents' Association Audrey Raistrick said: "It is a matter of concern that we have a record of failures to get funds for housing."

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