East Dunbartonshire Council has agreed its Housing Revenue and Capital Budget for 2026/2027 which will see £9.57 million of investment across the existing housing estate whilst demonstrating a commitment to increasing the local housing supply.
The Housing Capital Investment Plan has two strategic priorities, to improve the energy efficiency and quality of the existing housing stock, and to add to the supply of affordable housing throughout the area.
Investments agreed include:
- Investing £5 million on energy efficiency
- Investing £2.87 million on housing quality including a replacement programme for windows, doors, kitchens, bathrooms and roofs
- An allocation of £32.419 million to increase the Council’s affordable housing supply
- Investing £4 million for the purchase of properties from the open market
- Improving the standard of void decoration, moving to a full decoration standard which will improve the look and feel of properties.
Despite the financial challenges facing all Local Authorities we firmly believe that our Housing Revenue and Capital Budgets represents good news for our housing estate and more importantly our tenants.
"This budget shows our commitment not just to investing in the existing housing supply, but to adding to it."
“Our plans will see a total of 308 new properties – all built to Passivhaus standards - being developed across nine sites. This includes the construction already underway at Twechar Canalside and construction beginning at a further six sites later this year, including the former Merkland School in late summer and Auchinairn Primary School in late 2026 – the latter subject to planning consent.”
A rent increase of 4% was agreed increasing the average weekly rent to £105.63 over 48 weeks, an increase of £4.06 per week. A 4% increase for lock-up and garage site rents was also approved.
Councillor Low added, “Our goal is to ensure rent remains affordable for our tenants whilst directly supporting our housing operations and investment. Our agreed rent increase of 4% is the third lowest of the 15 comparison authorities considered in our budget planning process and lower than the comparison average of 6.24%.
“I’m also particularly pleased that we will be improving the standard of our void decoration which will provide an enhanced standard of let to our tenants.”
