Councillors approve over £4.786 million investment in Inverness housing
20th November 2020
Members of The Highland Council's City of Inverness Area Committee have today agreed a proposed £4,786,000 investment in council housing for 2021-22.
The one-year Inverness Area Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Capital Programme is part of the Highland wide HRA Capital Plan for 2021-22 which will see over £15m invested in improving the housing stock across the region.
Provost of Inverness and Area Cllr Helen Carmichael welcomed the programme for Inverness which includes kitchens, bathrooms, windows and doors replacements, and structural work to roofs, chimneys and the external fabric of properties, with allowance for environmental improvement works and continued funding of equipment and adaptations to allow disabled and elderly tenants to remain in current tenancies.
She said: "This significant investment in our housing stock in the Inverness area will make positive improvements to the lives of many tenants, particularly those improvements relating to the energy efficiency of their homes. I would like to thank tenants for their continued support and understanding that works are being delivered at a slower pace than usual due to coronavirus to ensure their safety. Members also welcome and look forward to identifying priority projects for environmental improvements in their local areas with local housing teams."
A specific priority of the programme approved by Members is improving heating and making homes more energy efficient, with over £2,000,000 of budget approved to replace the oldest and most inefficient heating systems and a further £400,000 for one-off heating replacements. In addition, £300,000 is provisioned for energy efficiency measures on Swedish Timber properties. These priorities reflect the commitment towards improving the energy efficiency of council housing stock in line with the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH).
Projects will be progressed as soon as possible in line with government guidance, ensuring the safety of tenants. Progress against current and future programmes will be reported to the next Area Committee and Members will continue to be updated through Ward business meeting updates.
Related Businesses
Related Articles
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate. The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate.
Following the success of its Business Digital Grant scheme launched last year, The Highland Council is delighted to announce further funding. This is to help Highland companies access digital support alongside other business growth support.
The Highland Council is delighted to confirm a highly successful second year for Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights between Wick and Aberdeen. The period from April 2023 to March 2024 has seen a substantial increase in passenger numbers, with several months seeing over 1,000 passengers using the service, and overall the service has seen year on year growth of 25%.
Members of Highland Council, who met on Thursday 14 March 2024, approved a corporate Digital Ambition, which has been designed to deliver significant organisational change across Council services, recognising the current priorities within the organisation. The Strategy, which is embedded within the wider Council Delivery Plan, has been developed to focus attention and resources on areas of change which will deliver the greatest benefit to the Council.
The Council remains committed to supporting mentoring in our schools, including the support that is currently delivered through the MCR Pathways programme. Highland Council is currently undertaking a review of Employability Support provided by a number of different council services and how these relate to the work carried out by external partners and in our schools.
Highland Council members have considered and agreed a revised draft Highland Outcome Improvement Plan. The partnership plan has been reviewed and updated by the Community Planning Partnership.
Members at today's (14 March 2024) meeting of The Highland Council agreed the local authority's new draft Community Wealth Building Strategy. They were also asked to note that a period of public engagement on the draft will now begin, with a final strategy returning to full Council for consideration in September.
