Thousands of housing repairs requests have been reported to Renfrewshire Council in the first two months of the year, figures have revealed.
A total of 14,229 issues have been raised with the local authority from the beginning of January until the end of February, a report has disclosed.
It was previously revealed how a brutal cold snap in the run up to Christmas sparked an influx of heating and hot water problems for tenants.
So much so, that local authority staff attended more than 1,700 emergencies during the freezing conditions felt during the week of Monday, December 12.
Teams worked round the clock to solve plumbing issues across the housing stock, while most employees gave up planned annual leave to make sure each call was responded to as quickly as possible.
It has since been confirmed in an update to the finance, resources and customer services policy board that pressures on building services continued after the festive period into January.
But this dropped to “more normal levels” last month as temperatures warmed and the weather improved.
“The service experienced very high levels of emergency/qualifying repairs following the Christmas and New Year break which remained high throughout January but has dropped back to more normal levels in February,” a report said.
“This corresponds directly to the weather and temperatures experienced. Building services deploy resources from other areas of the business to ensure the emergencies and qualifying repairs are attended.
“From the beginning of January to February 28, there have been 14,229 repairs reported in total – 5,556 of which have been done so as emergencies and 1,395 out of hours.”
Workers were applauded for their efforts during periods of adverse weather at the last board meeting in February.
Councillor Graeme Clark said about the efforts at the time: “I’m greatly appreciative of building services staff who gave up their annual leave and worked 24/7 for seven days a week to attend 1,700 emergencies during the cold spell in mid-December.
“Obviously that meant some delays in repairs for other items but we fully understand that and we just want to commend the staff for that exceptional work.”
Convener John Shaw responded: “Definitely, I’m sure we all do. It wasn’t just building services. It was quite a busy time for a lot of people, so I’m sure we all commend them.”
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