ALMOST £3m will be spent on upgrading sheltered housing schemes across Southampton.

City council bosses have approved funding for works at five sheltered housing blocks, which will be carried out over the next year-and-a-half.

The works will be funded from the authority’s housing revenue account, which is largely made up of council house rents.

The biggest section of work will be the £1.9m overhaul of Weston Court.

The facility will have a three-bedroom extension added that can be used for rehabilitating elderly people who have left hospital and will include a kitchen and lounge area, wet room and a toilet, as well as a staff office.

Weston Court’s community room will also undergo a major refurbishment which will include re-roofing, new CCTV and lighting and the addition of an external scooter bay.

The entrance and exit road to the facility in Kingsclere Avenue will be widened.

Three sheltered housing blocks – Ventnor Court, James Street and Milner Court – will have new mobility scooter storage facilities added for £675,000.

And Bassett Green Court will undergo a £250,000 overhaul which will see windows replaced, a new fire alarm fitted and new floor coverings added.

The facility’s toilets will also be upgraded and its lighting improved.

Council housing boss Warwick Payne said: “These improvements are important as the city prepares for an ageing population.

“Mobility scooters have become an awful lot more popular in recent years, and it’s important for us as a council to deal with that. These improvements are a list for Santa of important works across the city.”