A 2.2 per cent rise - averaging slightly more than £1 a week in Kirklees Council house rents - will be recommended to the council's Cabinet tomorrow.

Changes in how local authorities work out council house rents will mean more than 1,000 tenants will be enjoying a rent reduction.

Cabinet will also be recommended to back a housing investment programme topping £81 million as the start of a three-year drive to bring 18,000 properties up to modern standards. The investment programme includes several millions for investing in private sector improvements.

Other improvements will include double glazing, central heating, replacing old kitchens and bathrooms, re-wiring and improved insulation.

There will also be external environmental works and improvements.

Popular estates which had little investment in recent years were expected to be the first to be tackled, said Councillor Graham Simpson, Cabinet member for Housing, and Cliff Whiteley, chairman of Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing,

Coun Simpson said that from April, Government changes required rents to be set on the basis of affordability and property valuation. In Kirklees it will mean over the next ten years, rent increases will be lower than the inflation rate.