Higher rent rises forninth year in a row?

However, that has been the case EVERY year for the past nine years and the extra charge a Lanark tenant will pay compared to a Larkhall one and a Carluke tenant over a Cambuslang one is likely to be small.

This tale dates back to the mid-1990’s when South Lanarkshire Council came into existance, it being a ‘marriage’ of the old Hamilton, East Kilbride and Clydesdale District Council areas plus the former Glasgow Council-controlled areas of Rutherglen in Cambuslang.

At that time the council rents in Clydesdale were lower than any of the other areas, and, in the case of the former Glasgow territory’s, considerably so.

Which is when the new SLC decided to ‘equalise’ the rents gradually by giving Clyesdale a slightly higher annual rise than the rest of the areas.

That exercise is still ongoing, with the ‘equalising’ only having started in 2006.

On Thursday, a special meeting was held at council headquarters in Hamilton, attended by individual tenants and their representatives, including Lanark’s Smyllum Tenants and Residents (STAR) and the Lanark Tenants and Residents Association to discuss what next year’s rise would be.

Asked by the Gazette what size of rent gap was still to be made up, a council spokesman said: “Variations in rent levels are not available on an area by area basis but are determined by the rents paid by individual tenants.

“Since 2006 the council has been working towards a harmonisation of rent levels across the whole of South Lanarkshire.

“This will ensure all tenants are treated equitably in terms of what they pay for rent, in the same way that we aim to provide the same, high-level service to tenants wherever they live. The anticipated timescale for completing the harmonisation of rent levels is April 2018.”

This meeting on Thursday was just one of a series of consultations SLC is having with the public before finally fixing its budget for 2016/17, stating that some tough decisions will have to be made if the council is to make an estimated £36m in savings.

A meeting of the council Executive Committee last Wednesday heard a report from one of its officials that “uncertainty would remain over the funding gap until the Scottish Government told the council what its grant would be for next year.”

Finance Secretary John Swinney will tell councils what their share of the local government allocation will be on December 16. The public are invited to make their views known via [email protected]