THOUSANDS of council houses in Consett and Stanley are to be inspected for wind damage after almost 100 were found to have tilted.

Derwentside District Council is currently surveying its 9,000 council homes to establish if any more have been damaged.

The inspections come after council workers carried out emergency repairs on ten of the most damaged properties, and are expected to repair other damaged ones in the near future.

Most of the council homes were built in the 1970s on hillsides exposed to prevailing winds, which have caused some of the properties to lean by as much as four inches.

The council's director of public services, Mike Clark, said: "Ten roofs and gable ends in the East Stanley area suffered serious damage and this has been put right.

"The rest will be repaired in the coming years. Over the next five to ten years we will survey all our property to determine the state of the roofs and gable ends."

Problems began two years ago when tenants in parts of Craghead and Chester Road Estate, Stanley, noticed their homes beginning to lean