The Scottish Green Party has called for new affordable housing to be prioritised ahead of local authority elections in May.

In launching its new election manifesto, the Party has set out a number of commitments towards housing;

• Help people who rent to create a stable home

• Continue to campaign to make energy efficiency of existing houses a priority

• Help homeowners to make homes wind and watertight with a trusted not-for-profit service to manage major repairs, including to tenements

• Work to bring Scotland’s 27,000 empty homes back into use.

• Support new housing cooperatives or initiatives to bring rented property into shared management

• Support new social rented homes to be built each year – at least 12,000 homes a year are needed to meet the growing population and to replace older housing

• Prioritise new housing that is affordable, low-carbon, built on brownfield sites and connected to local services like schools and shops

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• Support action to drive up space standards, designing houses which are easy to adapt for independent living

• Explore ways of taking into social ownership facilities like care homes and student housing where their owners cannot continue to manage them

In addition, the manifesto pledges Green Councillors will support local flood protection projects through community gardens, allotments and school growing projects; Prioritise pedestrians as the most important users of roads and pavements; and protect parks/green spaces.

Other commitments involve conserving biodiversity and tackling climate change, as well as ensuring councils seek opportunities to manage flooding using natural processes and invest in the expertise needed to do this.

With a record 218 candidates aiming to build on existing councillor numbers in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeenshire, Midlothian and Stirling, as well as make headway in other local authority regions, the party's candidate for Dennistoun in Glasgow, Kim Long, said the Scottish Greens will "speak up to protect public services, give our schools the resources they need, support our care staff and tackle the housing crisis".

"Green councillors are renowned for their hard work. Now we need more Green councillors elected in towns and cities across Scotland, working with local residents and putting power back in communities where it belongs," she said.

"Green MSPs secured an extra £160million from the Scottish Government for councils to spend on local priorities this year, while other parties' posturing achieved nothing. Council chambers across Scotland need our bold and constructive approach."

To view the Green manifesto, visit here.

(LM/MH)