A new team is to be created for a £100million clean up of outside areas at thousands of housing association properties creating almost 200 jobs.

Wheatley Group, which includes Scotland’s largest social landlord Glasgow Housing Association, will spend the cash over the next five years.

The huge investment will coincide with an overhaul of the group’s environmental teams with a recruitment drive under way for 91 full-time environmental staff, 45 environmental apprenticeships and 45 trainees. The apprenticeships are for two years and trainee positions for one year.

Almost half the posts are ring-fenced for Wheatley Group residents some of whom live in the most disadvantaged communities in Scotland.

The apprenticeships will be open to unemployed young people in homes run by the group, people needing help to get on the employment ladder and homeless people.

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The locally-based neighbourhood environmental teams will each week clean 4000 closes and 127 multi-storey blocks as well as maintain back courts, moving bulk items and cutting grass and trees.

Wheatley Group director of housing Olga Clayton said: “This is a massive statement of intent in our mission to make homes and lives better for our 200,000 customers across Central Scotland.

“In Glasgow alone over the past 13 years we have invested £1.5billion in improving and modernising over 80,000 affordable homes.

“We will continue to invest in our properties as well as build thousands of new homes but we also want to do all we can to ensure our customers also have local communities they are proud to live in.

“That is why we will invest over £20m a year across the group in providing and strengthening these essential environmental services.

“We know from customer research our neighbourhood environmental teams and the great work they do are already hugely popular with the people we work for.

“We are confident the changes and improvements we are now making will take our already very high customer satisfaction levels even higher.

“We believe Wheatley is a leading employer of choice and we are looking through our recruitment drive to attract new recruits passionate about providing excellent services that delight our customers.”

The group spans 17 local authority areas across Central Scotland includes GHA which has almost 40,000 homes in Glasgow, Cube Housing with more than 3400 social homes in the West of Scotland and Loretto Housing which has 1200 homes in Central Scotland.