The number of council homes in East Lothian has increased for the first time in a generation.

Figures showed an increase of 143 homes by end of the financial year in 2011, marking the first shift in the downward trend since 1980.

Councillor Stuart Currie, Cabinet Member for Housing and Community Safety, said: "This is great news for East Lothian residents. We currently have a severe shortage of council homes for rent in East Lothian – a legacy of the Right to Buy legislation and East Lothian’s popularity as a place to live. We have far more people waiting for a council home than we have homes available. This council realised that something had to be done about this situation so we embarked on the first programme of building council homes in the area for decades. This has now come to fruition and we’ve seen the first increase in our housing stock for a whole generation. And I’m sure this good news will keep on coming as we expect next year’s figures to show another increase as we continue to build more homes."

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In 1980, East Lothian Council had 16,304 homes for rent. Since then, each year showed a steady decline in housing stock – reaching a low of 8044 homes last year. In 2011, that figure has now gone up to 8187.

Councillor Currie added: "Obviously, we have a long way to go to build our stock up to where we would like it to be but we will continue to look at ways to address this, including identifying funding from our own budget and direct help from the Government."

(CD/KMcA)