Birmingham City Council has revealed plans to invest a record £5 billion in its housing stock over the next 30 years to ensure its tenants and leaseholders can live in warm, safe, and sustainable homes.

Within that investment, the council will spend £1.4bn to ensure all existing housing stock complies with Decent Homes Standards in the next eight years.

These plans represent a record level of investment in its housing stock by Birmingham City Council, the largest local authority provider of affordable housing in the UK.

The investment plans have been approved by cabinet along with a refreshed Asset Management Strategy which sets out the plans to improve housing stock quality across the city, as well as the contract arrangements to deliver these plans.

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Councillor Jayne Francis, Cabinet Member for Housing and Homelessness, said: "All our tenants and leaseholders should be living in warm, safe and sustainable homes.

"But we acknowledge that this has not been the experience of all of our residents - we must get the basics rights for our tenants and leaseholders.

"These ambitious plans will prioritise investment in our existing council house stock above all else, so the quality of residents' homes can be improved as quickly as possible.

"Widespread investment is needed as four out of five homes in our housing stock is over 50 years old.

"The result is that many of our existing tenants and leaseholders will see significant improvements in their accommodation; these improvements will cut energy bills and make them safer and warmer."

The Asset Management Strategy details some of the improvements tenants and leaseholders can expect, which include; surveys conducted on all of the existing housing stock to assess their condition, more kitchen and bathroom renovations, all council houses to have an Energy Performance Certificate rating of C, and an increase in the number of tenant visits council officers will make.

Approval has also been given to award a new interim contract for the repairs and maintenance of council-owned homes, one that has an emphasis on improving customer service.