AN extra £340,000 is being spent on clearing a backlog of housing repairs in Redditch before the end of March.

Redditch Council made the move following a huge increase in demand for housing adaptations for disabled and able-bodied people in both council and privately owned homes in the town.

About £200,000 has been put aside to provide facilities for disabled people in council homes.

And £140,000 has been given to the council's environmental health department to carry out repairs on privately owned homes, which could range from providing a stair-lift to replacing a hot water tank.

The money will go on top of the total £545,000 the council had allocated for housing adaptations at the beginning of the year.

Chairman of the policy and resources committee, David Cartwright, said: "The demand for adaptations this year is exceptionally high so we decided to allocate more money from our budget.

"Sometimes adaptations can be small things but they could be completely changing the downstairs of a house.

"This year we seem to have had a lot of big adaptations which have swallowed the budget up.

"We need to increase the allocation to deal with the outstanding cases we have left before the end of this financial year."

Environmental health officer Steve Webster said: "Anyone who owns their own home and is in receipt of benefit can come forward for assistance with repairs to their property.

"We have allocated £40,000 for adaptations for the disabled and the rest for other repairs like re-wiring."