An additional 120 homes for social rent will be built by East Renfrewshire Council over the next five years.

Councillors on the Cabinet agreed to double the council’s house building commitment, following consultation with residents. The news comes after plans to build 120 homes were approved in November 2016.

Whilst sites for the additional 120 homes are still to be identified, Maidenhill is one potential location. Following approval by Cabinet, work will commence in developing detailed plans, including exploring land availability.

Councillor Dany Devlin, convener for housing and maintenance services, said: “East Renfrewshire is a popular place to live and we want to increase our housing stock to meet the needs of our communities. This decision to build additional homes forms part of the delivery of our recently agreed Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP), which makes the commitment to deliver almost 693 affordable homes across the authority over the next five years. We believe these additional homes for social rent will be a great asset to East Renfrewshire and it will be exciting to see the plans develop over the coming months.”

Construction of the first of the previously approved homes will commence early this year, with homes set to be available in late 2018. This first phase of construction includes sites at Robertson Street and Fenwick Drive in Barrhead, followed by a third site at Blackbyres Court, Barrhead.