East Ayrshire Council has applied for funding from the Scottish Government to provide affordable housing for local residents.

Late last year the Council applied for funding from a new £25m fund which was set up to encourage a new generation of council house building.

The initial bid was unsuccessful however the Council was invited to apply for a share of the remaining £8.1m from the fund.

Due to the tight time frame set by the Scottish Government a bid was submitted and heard retrospectively at the meeting of Cabinet on Wednesday 3 June. For the first phase of ten houses planned for the Kilmarnock central area the Council has applied for £250,000 which equates to £25,000 of funding per house.

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Councillor Douglas Reid, Leader of the Council said: "It is essential to replace stock lost through Right to Buy sales and provide new smaller sized houses suitable for older people which will allow for the allocation of larger houses to families who wish to remain within their own communities. In this way we will alleviate pressures on affordable housing waiting lists.

"Ministers will announce further grant allocations by Friday 26 June 2009 however the Council has agreed to press ahead with plans for the demolition and reinstatement works of the building on the site of the former St Matthew’s school at MacDonald Drive, Kilmarnock and authorise the appointment of Atrium Homes to design and manage the build process. This will allow the Council to press ahead with the construction of affordable housing within this financial year if the Scottish Government grants our funding application."

(GK/JM)