An 83-year-old cancer sufferer has condemned historic houses in Saltaire as unfit to live in.

Pensioner Ivy Hayton was hoping to rent one of the former almshouses in Victoria Road, Saltaire, after she found travelling to shops from her Baildon bungalow too much of a strain.

But Mrs Hayton and her daughter Diane Mather said they were disgusted by the conditions inside the Bradford Council-owned houses when they were shown around at 47 Victoria Road.

The criticism comes after the almshouses were branded "Dickensian" by Shipley West councillor John Carroll in the T&A last month after the relatives of the previous elderly resident complained.

Coun Carroll said that while on the outside the houses were the jewel in Bradford's tourist crown the residents inside were still living in Victorian conditions.

Now he has renewed his call for urgent refurbishment work to be done at the premises before it is offered for rent again.

He said: "Elderly people should not have to live in conditions like that. It's alarming that the Council is even trying to re-let it in the state it's in at the moment.

"You would have thought that they would at least have done something to the heating and the hot water tank. But the only thing they have done is replace some flaky plaster next to the sink.

Mrs Mather, said: "It was disgusting. It was so bad I wouldn't let my dog live in it. It needs to have a lot of money spent on it to make it habitable.''.

Councillor Jim O'Neill, chairman of Bradford Council's Housing and Environmental Protection Committee, said: "The interior of the alms houses are on a list for renovation but the list is in priority order and what we desperately need is either private finance or Government funds to help us carry out the renovations.''

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