Major improvements have been made to St Albans’ social housing stock after the council invested £650,000 over the past three months.

A further £3 million will be spent on projects to upgrade many of the council’s 5,000 properties during the next nine months.

So far in this financial year, more than 400 new energy efficient boilers have been installed by a council contractor, at a cost of £156,000, and 50 replacement kitchens and bathrooms have been fitted at a cost of £176,000.

A programme of electrical rewiring and testing at more than 800 homes has cost £95,000, while 250 window and door replacements have cost £198,000.

Cllr Brian Ellis, portfolio holder for housing, said: “We have a budget of £3.6 million for major capital improvement schemes to our social housing for the financial year. We are on track to complete the planned high quality refurbishments.”