Thousands of frustrated council house tenants in Norwich forced to wait for new windows have been given fresh hope after councillors agreed to commit �10m to the work.

At Norwich City Council's cabinet meeting last night, councillors approved the recommendation to spend �10m over a two-year period on replacing windows, and to delegate to the director of regeneration and development the authority to award the new window contract subject to conditions.

Brenda Arthur said: 'We just need to get on and get the windows fitted.'

She added: 'We need to make sure we get people's windows in their homes as quickly as possible.'

As previously reported, thousands of council house tenants have been forced to wait for new windows after the contractor Connaught went into administration last September in the midst of a programme of fitting new PVC windows to 16,000 council homes.

The city council handed an emergency temporary contract to Anglian Windows so some work could still be carried out. The new contract to be awarded should see the final 4,000 properties fitted with windows by the end of 2012.

Meanwhile, at last night's cabinet meeting, councillors agreed to provide grant support to third-sector partners who offer financial advice and support to people in need.

This included �43,000 to the Citizens Advice Bureau for the Norwich debt advice project, �42,000 to MABS for debt management and consolidation help, and �10,500 to Age UK Norwich to enhance income generation for older people.

Councillors also agreed to award grants totalling �415,909 to city organisations in the voluntary and the not-for-profit sectors.

The grants awarded were �100,000 to HEART (Heritage and Regeneration Trust), �63,000 to VisitNorwich, �37,800 to the Writers' Centre Norwich, �37,000 to Norwich Art Centre, �36,614 to Voluntary Norfolk, �32,760 to Norwich Door to Door, �18,000 to Britten Sinfonia, �15,000 to Norfolk Dance, �14,758 to the Norfolk and Norwich Heritage Trust (Dragon Hall), �12,977 to Norwich Puppet Theatre, �10,000 to Norwich Community Law Service, �10,000 to Norwich in Bloom, and �6,000 to Norfolk Education and Action for Development.

There were also smaller grants of �5,000 and under to The Garage Trust, Community Music East, Norwich and Norfolk Community Arts, Sexual Violence Alliance, Norwich Shopmobility, Norwich Access Group.

Judith Lubbock said it was important the details of these grants for the voluntary and the not-for-profit sectors was easily accessible to the public on the council website.