MORE than £100,000-worth of investment to improve parking and access for council homes in Durham City has been given the green light.

Durham City Homes has given the go-ahead for £125,000 to be spent installing parking bays and driveways for homes in Framwellgate Moor and Pity Me.

Three homes on Lilac Avenue and 12 on Kirby Avenue, all in Framwellgate Moor, and 17 homes on Hudspeth Crescent and 20 on The Avenue, all in Pity Me, will get driveways for the first time.

Meanwhile, two four-space parking bays are to be added to Hudspeth Crescent so residents will no longer have to park on grassed areas or pavements.

Framwellgate Moor and Newton Hall Liberal Democrat county councillors Mark Wilkes, Mamie Simmons and Amanda Hopgood have, between them, contributed around £10,000 from their council-allocated neighbourhood budgets towards the schemes.

Cllr Wilkes said the area had not received its fair share of Durham City Homes (DCH) funding in the past and he was delighted to see that changed.

“For many years now we have been trying to make improvements on these roads,” he said.

“I am absolutely delighted that through our hard work and perseverance we will see major improvements.

“We felt really strongly that our area was not getting its fair share of funding. We have managed to change that.”

Cllr Hopgood said: “After visiting a huge number of streets in the area with DCH officers, it was pretty obvious that something needed to be done.

“Officers identified the best areas to tackle first and it is really great news that these families will be helped directly.

“In addition everyone else on these streets will see improvements to their local environment.”

Cllr Simmons said: “There is still a lot to do and we hope that in the coming years we can help secure further improvements on more streets across our area.

“By being proactive we have managed to get a lot of work done which would either never have happened or only occurred many years down the line.”

The work is expected to start in January and take several months to complete.

DCH is Durham County Council’s agency for running its council houses in the former Durham City district.

Its investment will come from its Housing Revenue Account, funded by council house rents.

Earlier this year, tenants voted in favour of the remaining council houses across County Durham, in the Easington, Wear Valley and Durham City areas, being transferred to a new independent landlord.