Fri, Apr 25 2008
The green light has been given to build up to 250 new council houses in West Lothian – the first in 25 years.
West Lothian Council are funding the £27.674m project and work will begin in June with final completion estimated to be within two years. The building of around 250 homes is the first phase of a larger project to build 700 council homes over the next four years. Although the plans have yet to be finalised, it is estimated that 70 homes will be built in Boghall, 51 in Dixon Terrace, Whitburn, 46 in Ladywell, Livingston and 81 in Wester Inch. Work is already underway to identify sites for the remaining 450 houses. The new homes will be made up of one and two bedroom flats, semi detached houses and bungalows suitable for disabled tenants. Council Leader, Peter Johnston, said: "West Lothian Council are committed to providing quality, affordable housing for the people of West Lothian. I welcome the Scottish Government plans to remove the Right To Buy for new council houses and clearly this is a significant factor for us in moving to build 700 new homes. "The recent Scottish Government announcement to provide £25m of additional funding for local authorities is also warmly welcomed by West Lothian Council and we will be making a serious bid for as big a share of that investment as we can get. "These new homes are desperately needed and they will just be the first step towards addressing the serious imbalance we face between genuine housing need and the availability of council houses. "West Lothian has Scotland?s fastest growing population and we are determined to move forward and deliver a detailed council housing programme which will provide a minimum of 700 new council homes over the next four years." Frank Anderson, Executive Councillor for Services for the Community, added: "These will be the first council houses for rent to be built for over 25 years in West Lothian. Indeed we are building, in our first phase alone, more council houses in West Lothian than were built in the whole of Scotland last year. "The building of new housing within existing neighbourhoods will contribute towards the creation of balanced, sustainable communities. These new council houses will be affordable, energy efficient and accessible, which meets the aspiration of both our tenants and the wider West Lothian communities." Ms Sturgeon said: " I am very pleased to see work moving forward on West Lothian Council's plans to build 700 new homes over the next four years, the first new council houses for rent to be built in the area in over 25 years. "Housing is one of the biggest challenges facing Scotland today, that is why we have set a target of at least 35,000 new houses to be built each year by the middle of the next decade and why we are committed to introducing legislation to end the right to buy for new build social houses. "The £25 million package of support that I recently announced will help us to meet this target by kick starting a new generation of council house building. We will be working with our partners in local government to ensure that this investment has maximum impact on the supply of new council housing in Scotland." Gladedale Partnerships have been successful in their bid for the project and will be responsible for house designs and construction work. Crawford Copstick, Managing Director of Gladedale (Central Scotland) Ltd, said: "Gladedale is proud to be playing its part in bringing much-needed new council housing to West Lothian. "We have a strong history of working with West Lothian Council and this partnership previously delivered 234 homes for rent and 18 for sale in a £12.5 million project. "We are looking forward to continuing to work together to boost the housing stock in the area through this innovative project."
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