A new report highlights significant progress made by North Lanarkshire Council in providing new homes for tenants.
The report described the past year as the second most successful nationally, with 335 new build homes provided across 11 sites, beating the local authority’s target. As of October 2024 the total stood at 1,526 homes towards its ambition of 5,000 by 2035.
The council has also been recognised with award nominations while its New Supply Team won Best Development Team (Urban) at the Inside Housing Awards.
Expenditure on new homes is also at its highest with over £55 million invested last year, while the council also purchased 126 homes on the open market – surpassing its target of 100.
Combined, the open market and empty homes purchase schemes have seen the council increase its housing stock by more than 800 in addition to its new build properties, with an average purchase and repair cost of £112,000 per property.
The council also works with developers to acquire homes, and over the last year it secured 82 properties through its Developer Pathfinder initiative.
However despite this progress some potential challenges remain, with Scottish Government grants continuing to decrease, which saw North Lanarkshire’s allocation shrink by £8 million.
The cost of new housing is also increasing due to changing standards which require improved levels of energy efficiency, the cost of converting historically significant buildings to housing per the town centre regeneration strategy and forecasts indicating major increases in general costs over the next five years.
Also, as encouraged by national policies the council continues to target former industrial brownfield sites it owns as potential locations for housing but development can be challenging due to issues such as contamination and old mine workings. The scale of remedial work required can mean that smaller developments especially are not financially viable.
The report was presented to the council’s housing committee, which approved target figures up to 2035 and acknowledged the need for a review to assess measures to expand the housing programme such as mid market rent.
*Don’t miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
And did yo u know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook? Head over to our page to give us a like and share.