Raft of councils set out budget infrastructure targets

Local authorities across Scotland have been setting out their spending priorities in the midst of tough financial challenges.

The City of Edinburgh Council’s total capital budget of £245 million saw major investment in roads and pavements, investing in school infrastructure and working towards the redevelopment of Meadowbank Sports Centre and Stadium regarded as key priority areas.

An additional £5m investment in roads and pavements took the total to £20m, while eight per cent of the transport revenue and capital budgets were committed for the creation and maintenance of cycle infrastructure.

Perth & Kinross Council said its 2015/16 final budget will protect the infrastructure needed to keep the area moving.

The budget invests almost £6m to make improvements in roads, structures, greenspaces and services to support some of the most vulnerable people including £1m for local road repairs; £165,000 to modernise and enhance the council’s gully cleaning programme and £123,000 to bring more empty properties into use for rent and to further expand the flat sharing scheme.

East Renfrewshire Council said it will make significant changes to the way services are delivered in order to meet a funding gap of around £22m but was still able to invest £80m in capital projects over the next three years.

Highlights of this planned investment include

The council also agreed to a rent increase of 4.9 per cent from April 2015, and a 4.9 per cent increase in each of the following two years to fund ongoing improvements to the council’s 3,000 homes, purchase new homes to boost council stock and to guarantee that the Scottish Housing Quality Standard is met and maintained.

Council tenants in Aberdeenshire are facing rent rises of 4.5 per cent – about £3 a week on average.

Ritchie Johnson, Aberdeenshire Council’s communities chief, said the exercise to revamp the system would reflect the improved energy efficiency within the housing stock.

Fife Council unanimously approved its Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget for 2015/16 which included a 3.3 per cent rent increase.

The £102m HRA budget for next year will help the council meet its target of 2,700 affordable new homes and continue improving the quality of existing housing, making them warmer, drier and healthier.

Yesterday SCN reported that councillors in West Dunbartonshire approved a 6.93 per cent rent rise for council tenants to help fund £29m of housing improvements.

The additional income will fund £29m of investment over the next year on delivering improvements to the council’s housing stock, as well as continuing to develop the new house building programme.

Seventy-seven new homes will be built in Dumbarton and Clydebank at a total investment of £7.7m. The council will invest £300,000 in special needs adaptations, £100,000 in community safety projects and £130,000 on a programme to upgrade closes.

Council house rents in Angus will also increase by 3.6 per cent this year as the local authority spends over £11m completing the programme of work to ensure all its houses meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard.