Major housing investment ahead

Part of the plan is a £250,000 commitment to carry out improvements on over 25,000 council homes during the next five years.

Council leader Jim Logue said: “Our aim is to support the provision of good quality housing to help create strong and vibrant communities and provide jobs and economic growth in our area. Our plan will do just that.

“We’re the largest council landlord in Scotland and our ambition matches that position. Our plan details a series of commitments and confirms how we’ll achieve these.

“This council is already delivering on its pledges and is leading the way in building affordable council housing.

“We’ve committed to building more than 2,000 council homes as part of our NL Homes project, the biggest council house building programme in Scotland in a generation.

“But private housing is needed too; we’ll build, or facilitate the building of 11,000 new homes over the next ten years, bringing £387 million in economic benefit to North Lanarkshire alone.

“We’ll continue to plan, build on the success we’ve already achieved to secure a prosperous future for North Lanarkshire’s communities and improve the lives of our residents.”

Other key elements of the plan include supplying land to meet the requirement for new homes, implementing an Affordable Housing Policy in Cumbernauld to improve the availability of affordable housing, partnering with developers and housing associations to deliver a further 1,000 affordable new homes and putting more empty properties back in circulation through the Empty Homes Purchase Scheme and town centre regeneration.

Councillor Logue added: “Access to good quality, affordable housing is a major priority for this council. Our delivery plan will ensure a brighter future for North Lanarkshire and its residents by bringing new houses, jobs and economic benefits to the area.”

SNP councillor Tom Johnston said that the Scottish Government was investing far more money than the council into these housebuilding programmes.

He added: “35 per cent of the costs of this building venture is being met by the Scottish Government. This, as usual, will quietly go unmentioned by the Labour-run Council,” he said.