Council to increase number of new homes to rent

Mar 4 2010 by Marjorie Kerr, West Lothian Courier

housing

PLANS have been unveiled to increase the number of council homes in West Lothian.

The local authority has announced plans to build 100 extra new properties under the Scottish Government’s Incentivising New Council House Building Fund.

Announcing the plan, the executive councillor for services for the community, Frank Anderson, said: “I’m delighted to announce that we are going to build an extra 100 council houses over a four-year period, bringing our total to 800.

“We are able to do this by combining the prudential borrowing, funded by our rental income, with additional funding made available from the Scottish Government’s Incentivising New Council House Building Fund.

“This means that we will have built 800 new council homes in West Lothian by 2011 – the first council homes to be built in over 25 years.”

At present, almost 9000 people are on the waiting list for a house in West Lothian, and 79 houses have already been allocated and are occupied, thanks to the first phase of construction.

In total, the first phase of the building programme will see 248 houses built across several areas, including Boghall (68 homes), Whitburn (49 homes), Bathgate (87 homes) and Livingston (44 homes).

Construction is expected to be completed by the end of August this year.

Frank Anderson added: “Plans to begin the second phase are well under way, which will see developments at various sites within Livingston, Whitburn, Bathgate, Uphall Station, Armadale and Blackburn.

“This development will provide people with homes built to an excellent standard and the highest quality.

“They will also enable a greater movement in allocations, which will satisfy a far greater number of our tenants’ aspirations than the simple addition of 800 homes.”