COUNCIL houses in Camden and Haringey are to be upgraded through a �125 million Government grant.

Camden has been allocated �55m which it will receive over the next four years. Meanwhile, Haringey has been awarded �69.9m to refurbish substandard council homes between now and 2015.

They were among 50 local authorities who submitted applications for a slice of �1.6 bn to bring 150,000 council homes across the country up to a decent standard.

The bids were assessed to ensure that local authorities with council houses which are most in need of repair receive the money and to ensure maximum value for tax payers.

Housing Minister Grant Shapps said: “To reflect our commitment to fairness and protecting the most vulnerable people in our society, we set aside over �2bn at the Spending Review to bring as many social homes as we can up to scratch - this was despite the tough decisions we took to tackle the record deficit.

“Too many families live in non-decent accommodation, so I am pleased that so many of them will see a difference due to this funding.”

For more on this story see the Ham&High on Thursday.