Today East Ayrshire Council set its revenue budget for 2012/13 ahead of the rest of Scotland and one of the key pledges made by Leader, Councillor Douglas Reid, was a commitment to continue to improve the quality of housing in East Ayrshire.

East Ayrshire Council has been working to a scheduled 5-year Housing Improvement Plan, to bring all homes in the area up to the standard set out in the Scottish Housing Quality Standard by 2015, with thousands of properties benefiting from new bathroom and kitchen installations, rewiring and central heating upgrades, and window and door replacements.

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The pledge made by Councillor Reid today to launch an external enhancement programme will ensure investment in the exteriors of council houses.

Councillor Reid explained: “To complement the work which has been undertaken to improve the interiors of Council housing stock, I have asked officers to bring forward options for a programme of scheduled enhancements to our council houses and these will include replacing worn and weathered roughcasting and guttering as well as exterior paint work.

“In recent years we have focussed on improving the energy efficiency of our tenants’ homes, to help them keep maintenance and fuel costs down. But we know that communities react positively to improvements to their environment, and the plans I have asked officers to develop will have this in mind.”

The planned programme of exterior improvements will commence on 1 April 2012.

(GK)