Building Briefs – May 6th

An eight-week consultation has been launched by Moray Council on revised guidance to private developers on accessible housing for the elderly and disabled.

Once approved, the document will form part of the current Moray Local Development Plan.

There is already a shortage of accessible housing in Moray due to demographic change and the increasing number of people requiring suitably designed housing.

The draft supplementary guidance seeks to respond to the shortfall by requiring private sector developers to deliver more accessible housing for sale and increase tenure choice for people requiring this type of accommodation.

Moray Council’s planning and regulatory services committee has agreed to a public consultation on the proposals which will run until July 1.

A report to the committee stated: “Surveys suggest that over 60 per cent of older people would prefer to move into a bungalow in later life. However, there is a growing under-supply and addressing this mismatch is a challenge for those planning, designing and developing housing for an ageing population.

“The amendments proposed in the revised guidance would provide a mix of house types which more accurately reflects need and demand.

“It is proposed that 50 per cent of private sector accessible housing units are delivered in single storey form – namely, a bungalow. In practice this would mean that the requirement from a development of 100 units would be eight accessible private sector units for sale on the open market - four of which must be bungalows.”

Network Rail delivers £2m West Coast Main Line upgrade works

Network Rail has completed over £2 million of improvement works to the West Coast Main Line.

Works over the bank holiday weekend included upgrading the main route between Glasgow and London, along with renewing and refurbishing key junctions in Glasgow and Lanarkshire.

The scheme was part of Network Rail’s £40 billion Railway Upgrade Plan.

Work continues on Angus flood prevention scheme

Work is continuing on a multi-million pound flood prevention project in Angus.

The scheme is located near the River South Esk in Brechin and is being funded by the council and the Scottish Government.

Subject to surfacing work, both River Street and Witchen Road will open to two-way traffic later today.

East Mill Road is scheduled to close next week until mid-June so drainage works associated with the scheme can be completed.

In addition, the road will be resurfaced from Brechin Bridge up to and including the junction with Mitchell Drive.

The Brechin Flood Prevention Scheme is the single largest civil engineering project taking place in the region, consisting of direct defences, flood embankments, flood walls, upgrades to the existing surface water drainage system, work on the Denburn Culvert and installation of three submerged pump stations.

Scottish Water begins £200,000 Fife upgrade project

Scottish Water has begun a £200,000 improvement project in Fife.

Work to upgrade sections of the sewer networks at Harbour View in Methil and Haugh Road in Burntisland began on 02 May.

The project involves relining the existing sewer after small segments of networks have been impacted by the tree root growth.

Scottish Water will use specialised equipment to mitigate noise levels during the two-week scheme.

Scottish rents rising faster than rest of UK

Average private rents in Scotland are rising faster than anywhere else in the UK, according to new figures.

Figures from Homelet’s Rental Index show the average private rent in Scotland rose 11.4 per cent from the 12 months since April last year and the average cost is more than £700 a month.

The increase is more than double that of the average for rest of the UK (excluding Greater London), which rose by 5.1 per cent in the same period.

The average rent in Scotland for new tenancies for the three months to March this year was £677 but by April this had hit £704 a month – a rise of four per cent.

In comparison, the second-fastest increase was the North West of England, which rose 1.7 per cent in the same period, while Greater London increased 0.5 per cent and Northern Ireland showed the fastest decrease at 0.7 per cent.

The average cost of a month’s rent in Scotland for the three months to April this year is higher than all but four of the 12 UK regions surveyed.

Only Greater London (£1,539), England’s South East (£963), the South West (£891) and East Anglia (£809) have higher rents.