Council tenants in Willaston have been reassured any porches or other additions removed as part of the current refurbishment will be put back again provided they are serviceable.
Housing committee chairman Councillor David Ashford said the council now had the benefit of a proper policy relating to building alterations and any that were approved by the council would be preserved if possible during the renovations.
Councillor Ashford said: ‘We are not aware of any that are a problem, but we felt there should be some policy in place to pre-empt any problems. Permission is needed: people should not just be doing alterations willy-nilly.’
Now, any disagreement about whether or not to reinstate a building such as a porch is to be referred to the Housing Committee for a final decision.
Speaking at a recent council meeting, Councillor Ritchie McNicholl said many alterations had previously been agreed ‘on the nod’ with no formal process in place. But he said some sort of process was needed given some of the alterations being done.
‘Some people are replacing PVC conservatory roofs with a proper roof, or fitting patio doors, and what about internal alterations like loft conversions?
‘What about the materials being used? Are they fire proof? Is regulation glass being used?’
Council leader David Christian said he felt standards had slipped somewhat in recent years.
‘I saw a porch attached to one property that was built out of pallets,’ he said.
‘But quite a few have PVC porches that will have cost money and I can see some real challenges and battles if some of these are judged not good enough to put back, assuming they had permission to put them up in the first place.’
Renovation work, which includes rebuilding outer walls, removing chimney stacks and re-roofing the houses, which were built in the 1940s and 50s, is costing around £30,000 to £35,000 per property. Over the next five years the plan is to complete work on 380 properties.