ELDERLY residents are furious at the conditions they are having to live in while improvement work is carried out to their homes.

Renovation of the homes in Wellington Court, Accrington, which began over two weeks ago, includes improvements to kitchens and heating systems.

Hyndburn Homes, which owns the premises, only told residents that the work would be carried out in March.

Heating in some of the flats had had to be turned off for safety reasons.

Residents complain that Hyndburn Homes has not provided alternative accommodation while the work is being done.

And, as some of the rooms are being completely redesigned, they are expected to redecorate themselves with the help of an allowance.

One resident, Jean Booth, 65, said: “Because of a combination of the weather and the work, I was colder at Easter than I had been all winter. Our central heating wasn’t working and we have not had a hot bath for nearly a fortnight.”

Mrs Booth, who has been living at Wellington Court with her husband Bryan, 70, for over seven years, says she has never had a problem like this before.

She said: “I know of another resident, an elderly man, who had to wait outside until 4.30pm last week while work was being carried out in his flat. I know they need to do this work but they should have done one or two flats at time instead of like this.”

The daughter of another couple who live in Wellington Court, who did not wish to be named, said she didn’t think her parents would be able to cope with all the redecorating.

She said: “Workmen have pulled the kitchen out and there’s dust and wires everywhere. It’s not safe. They are expected to redecorate themselves and I’m not sure how they are going to be able to do it.”

Another resident, who wished to be known only as Doreen said: “A lot of the people here are elderly and have nowhere else to go. Nobody is helping us to move stuff.”

A spokesman for Hyndburn Homes said: “We do our utmost to ensure any of our contractors are considerate in the improvement work they undertake. We understand that any improvement work will always cause a certain amount of upheaval within a home and we are genuinely sorry that residents feel upset at the nature of this process.

“We would like to assure the residents affected that we aim to complete the work as promptly as possible with the utmost safety.

“At Hyndburn Homes we strive to make every one of our residents as comfortable as possible.”