A £150million plan will see a council double the number of new homes it has in the pipeline from 500 to 1000.
The eight-year plan will see some of the new properties built on the site of Motherwell’s Glencairn Tower, which was demolished last November.
North Lanarkshire Council announced the plans in its housing revenue budget for 2012/13.
The budget also includes plans for a lower than inflation rent increase of 1.5%, costing tenants an extra 80p per week.
The housing budget was agreed at the council’s Housing and Social Work Services Committee and will be rubber stamped next month.
It is vital that we continue to invest in housing
Councillor Barry McCulloch, convenor of the Housing and Social Work Services Committee, said: “As the council faces major challenges, it is vital that we continue to invest in housing, not only to address the increasing demand for affordable rented accommodation but also to support employment across all sectors.
“This is an outstanding housing budget for the council and its tenants.
“It supports our vision to deliver a positive housing future for the people of North Lanarkshire by providing high quality housing in neighbourhoods where people want to live.
“Over the five-year period from 2010 to 2015, we will invest £210m to improve the quality of our existing stock of more than 36,500 houses through our mainstream capital programme.”
The investment – which will see a further £1.8m a year spent on new housing – also sees an extra £2.3m spent on improving the council’s existing housing stock up to 2020.
That £2.3m will be divided between a £1m new kitchen programme; £500,000 boost to the window and door replacement programme; £500,000 for roofing and rendering; and £300,000 for renewable energy measures.
Councillor McCulloch added: “The housing budget will also deliver an even more ambitious new build programme, expanding our existing programme of 500 houses to provide 1000 new houses by 2020 at a cost of approximately £150m.
“And we will deliver all this while at the same time upholding our pledge to cap rent increases at 1.5% for the second year in succession.”
stef.lach@ heraldandtimes.co.uk
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