Vulnerable elderly people face a cold Christmas because a ruptured metal pipe could take weeks to fix.

Residents in Vine Close, Berrylands, a council-run housing shelter for older people, have already been without gas for a fortnight.

Kingston Council said it could not put a time frame on the work but residents told the Surrey Comet they had been told they could face a further month or more without fuel.

In an email sent to residents, head of housing management Simon Oelman said the gas supply was turned off because of concerns a badly corroded metal pipe was causing leaks.

The email stated the equipment had fallen into disrepair because of a “lack of historic investment in the infrastructure of the council’s housing stock”, a problem blamed on a central Government subsidy, which saw rent money spent in other boroughs.

The council has given the pensioners £3 a day for temporary heating and cooking but with the temperatures likely to drop in the next few weeks, residents are becoming concerned.

One resident, who asked not to be named for fear of upsetting the block’s warden, said: “This is the worst time to be without heating for five or six weeks. They gave us one heater but that is only good for use in one room at a time. The weather has been quite nice so far for this time of year but it is bound to get colder and then how will we cope?”

Another resident, who also did not wish to be named, echoed her neighbours concerns.

She said: “The heaters work OK for now but god knows what it will be like when it gets colder.”

Berrylands Councillor Karen George said: “If someone told me that I would be without gas from now until Christmas I would not be best pleased, no one would.

“But when you consider these people are elderly and in some cases vulnerable then it amounts to nothing short of a huge lack of foresight and failure by the council.

“The situation is made even worse by the fact that Coun Frances Moseley is the Berrylands Ward councillor and she is herself the head of housing.”

A spokesperson for the council said: “A positive change to the way council housing is financed means that from April 2012 we will have additional resources available and we’re currently planning a new programme of investment.

“The wellbeing of residents will always be a priority for the council and we will continue to offer assistance to residents so that they feel comfortable in their homes.”