Council house tenants across the Highlands will soon receive upgrades to their homes as the local authority rolls out a £15 million improvement plan.
Members of Highland Council’s property committee have agreed to carry out a string of projects across 2021-22, with local members making decisions on which areas are most in need of attention.
Inverness is earmarked to be the biggest beneficiary, with close to £4.7m allocated, followed by Caithness and Easter Ross with allocations of around £2.2m each to boost the housing stock.
Of the total £15.6m agreed to be spent, £1m will be used to make improvements so that disabled tenants can live more comfortably in council houses.
The programme focuses on projects identified as a priority by local maintenance teams through previous inspections, and also includes measures to improve heating and energy efficiency.
The projects will be presented to local councillors for their final approval in the coming months.
Elsewhere, Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh will receive £551,000, the Black Isle, Dingwall and Seaforth will benefit from £1.38m and more than £600,000 will be spent in Badenoch and Strathspey.
Committee chairman Ben Thompson said: “I am sure local members will want to put forward priority projects and make sure their allocation of money is invested where it is needed most.”
All capital housing projects scheduled for this year were suspended in March when lockdown was announced.
Mr Thompson added: “As soon as we got the go-ahead from the Scottish Government, our current schedule of works for this year restarted in July but there is slippage to the programme due to the pandemic.
“We are currently focussing on external works and completing outstanding projects rather than initiating new works.
“Our housing team is working closely with contractors to ensure all heightened health and safety measures are in place to protect our staff, contractors and tenants.
“All tenants affected by this delay have been notified and I thank everyone for their understanding.”
