A £600,000 door and window replacement project has been greeted with delight by Pendle Council residents.

More than 300 homes will benefit from the two-year scheme which is targeting houses in Brierfield, Vivary Bridge and Waterside in Colne and Whitefield in Nelson.

The opening doors unlocking opportunities scheme, funded by £115,000 from the single regeneration budget and £475,000 from the public sector, should reduce in heating bills and an improve security of homes as doors and windows are replaced with double glazed units and uPVC and mortice locks.

Mrs Karen Nightingale, 28, has lived in Keighley Avenue, Colne, since December 1. There was a fire downstairs in the property before she moved in and so the ground floor windows had been replaced, but only with single-glazed units.

She said: "I am very pleased about the windows getting replaced because it will make the house a lot warmer.

"I must admit it hasn't been bad but the heating bills are a bit high when it's cold.

"The worst problem is the condensation and I have to keep towels on the bottom of the windows in the upstairs room to catch the drips."

Mrs Nightingale moved to Colne from Aberdeenshire with her husband Peter, a security officer with a Preston firm, and two-and-a-half year old daughter Jade.

She said: "Once it's done I will be able to wallpaper the walls and put proper curtains up."

Peter Grimshaw, 24, of Glenroy Avenue, Colne, lives with his girlfriend Michelle Beagles, their son Jordan-Lee, 15 months and they are expecting their second child in August.

He said: "It is a bit cold with the windows as they are. It was a shock when they said they were going to do the work and I am hoping they will replace the back door of the house as well.

"It will make the house warmer and hopefully it will be done in time for the new baby arriving.

"I never thought about the security aspect, but having double glazed units with window locks will make the house safer."

Donald McKay, 52, has lived on the North Valley estate in Colne for 30 years and for more than 20 has rented a house on Keighley Avenue.

Mr McKay, who is on invalidity benefit and lives with his wife Joan and daughter Joanne, 27, said: "If they put plastic windows on here it will certainly improve the look of the whole street and it will make the houses a lot warmer.

"I will believe it when I see it though. I have lived on this estate for more than 20 years and in that time all we have had done is porches put on the front and a bit of fencing.

"The windows are rotten with condensation and upstairs there is a window at the top of the stairs which constantly has a puddle of water which you have to wipe up.

"All that happens is they come round, give the windows a bit of paint and two months later it all peels off.

"If they actually come round here and do the work then they will have stuck to their word and will have listened to what the people want."

Housing and Community Care Manager Helen McHale said: " This project will see more than 1,000 rotten and draughty single-glazed windows replaced with double glazed units and more than 500 flimsy doors replaced with and uPVC mortice lock doors."