A group of councillors organising a ‘make over’ of garages once owned by Fenland District Council have received a cautious welcome from the present owners, Roddons.

Town councillor Robert Mclaren appealed for volunteers to paint the garages in Walsoken after telling residents it was “far easier to crack on” and do the job rather than wait for Roddons to do it.

“They did not want to paint these garages although they have needed doing for along time,” he posted on a Wisbech Facebook forum.

“So like a mug I’m doing them, permission is sorted. There will be no media attention on this project; I’m doing them for the residents, no other reason.” He added that once Roddons realised he was serious “they then half-heartedly offered the services of their caretaker for a few hours. I will be declining their offer.”

Anne Brighton, managing director of Circle Housing Roddons, said: “While our main focus is to invest any available budget into improving homes, we are concerned about the maintenance and appearance of the garages and recognise that this is an important issue to the community.

“We have helped to facilitate volunteer groups to complete similar work in the past and are working with the local parish councillor to arrange for staff and community volunteers to get this job done as quickly as possible.

“It does take time to organise this kind of activity and we apologise if this has taken longer than expected.”

• In 2007 as part of the sale by Fenland Council, Roddons took on 3,754 dwellings and associated land, 613 garages and six shops.

and 6 shops.