Bradford's "forgotten" housing estates could get a new lease of life after years in the doldrums.

Families who watched massive regeneration schemes in envy are likely to come into their own.

Housing chiefs want to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on small estates giving them far more than bricks and mortar improvements.

They would also get community projects like crime prevention, training and job creation schemes and environmental work would be carried out.

The estates would become "mini" versions of the £60 million City Challenge-funded Holme Wood revival which transformed the estate into a place where people wanted to live.

Housing chiefs are consulting federations representing all the district's 28,000 tenants about the pioneering scheme, which would be one of the first in Britain.

The pocket regeneration scheme would replace the Council's annual programmed works scheme agreed each year by the authority and tenants' federations.

Housing services sub-committee chairman Councillor Jim O'Neill stressed today that repairs would be carried out as normal, however.

He said the Council wanted to spend £700,000 for the first time this year from the proceeds of council house sales.

The previous Tory Government's rules prevented councils from using the funds to spend on estate improvements.

Coun O'Neill said they hoped to offer the money as matched funding in a bid to get more cash from Europe.

He said: "We are looking at the areas of 700 houses or less which have missed out on improvement schemes because they were not big enough to attract outside funds.

"In the past we have ball-juggled works for the different estates. Now I want a more holistic approach."

Coun O'Neill said work already committed would be carried out.

Today David Parker, chairman of Bradford East Tenants federation, representing 5,000 tenants, welcomed the scheme.

He said Bradford's Gibson Street was a good example of a small estate which had lost out.

"I think it is the way forward, but the important thing is that the Council shouldn't forget about the repairs on the other estates."

Renee Lancaster, treasurer of Baildon Green tenants and residents association, said she would like to see improvements for the Sandal estate where some houses had been untouched for years. "It would be very good news if they could be included in any new scheme," she said.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.