Steps to prevent serious shortages of affordable housing in North Lanarkshire have been announced.

Right to Buy has been temporarily suspended for some tenants in all letting areas in Cumbernauld and Moodiesburn, which have now been designated as 'pressured areas'. This will immediately affect 1,596 council tenancies.

This follows the Minister's decision to approve North Lanarkshire Council's pressured area application and will allow the Council to retain homes for rent for people on low incomes in areas facing social housing pressures aggravated by Right to Buy.

Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell said accepting North Lanarkshire Council's request to suspend Right to Buy will ease the substantial pressures facing affordable housing in Cumbernauld and Moodiesburn.

"Local authorities have responded extremely positively to our invitation to apply for a share of £25m to reverse decades of decline in council house building. This, along with our plans to end the right to buy on all new build social housing, will help kick start a new generation of council house building and safeguard investment in affordable housing.

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"North Lanarkshire is the eleventh local authority to have successfully applied to use the pressured area mechanism and I would ask other councils to consider whether it could be used as a suitable tool by them."

Councillor Barry McCulloch, Convener of North Lanarkshire Council's Housing and Social Work Services Committee said:"The demand for rented housing is these areas is very high and this decision will go some way to addressing the issue of providing affordable accommodation to local people."

The Scottish Government wishes to explore ways of achieving greater local flexibility in the operation of the Right to Buy. The pressured area mechanism is only one way of doing this. We are also committed to introducing legislation to end the right to buy for all new build social housing.

The suspension of Right to Buy only applies to tenancies which have commenced since September 30, 2002. Tenants in Cumbernauld and Moodiesburn will have the Right to Buy their council or housing association property suspended for five years.

Right to Buy changed significantly when the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 reduced and capped discount levels, extended the qualifying period to five years and introduced the pressured area mechanism.

(GK/JM)