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New council homes for Inverness

City councillor and former firefighter Fraser Parr.
City councillor and former firefighter Fraser Parr.

An Inverness councillor is heralding plans for new council homes for his city ward as part of the authority’s longstanding pledge to crack a Highland housing crisis that still has thousands on the waiting list.

Six, two-bedroom council bungalows are proposed for the Hilton area of Old Edinburgh Road.

A formal planning application is still to be considered.

The council has steadily reduced its waiting list for social housing that peaked, a few years ago, at about 10,000.

Highland-wide, the currently waiting and transfer list is 7,200.

The council has advertised a £650,000 contract for tenders to build six, one-bedroomed council bungalows, similar in size to those in the neighbouring cul-de-sac close to Hilton School.

Inverness Ness-side Labour councillor Fraser Parr said: “This is excellent for the area.

“We have welcomed the development on Balloan Road where we’re putting in houses for injured soldiers as well as council housing.

“Any opportunity or vacant site that we can build on, I’m very supportive of that.”

He said the high numbers on the waiting list remained a huge problem.

“I don’t know how we’re going to address that fully, but this is another small step, I suppose,” councillor Parr said.

“You’ve got to take such steps to make a start.

“Within the current financial constraints I suppose we are taking action. I would like to see more, obviously, and I would like to see them built as council houses rather than ‘affordable’ because that puts an onus on somebody actually having to purchase a house and I think we should be doing more for renting from the council.”

Allan Maguire, the council’s head of property partnerships, said: “We’re continuing to try and identify as many development opportunities in the Inverness area as possible to enhance the current council house programme.

“We’ve recently completed two major mixed tenure projects at Wester Craigs and Academy Street which have delivered another 40 new council homes.

“We’re currently working with our council partners with 130 new affordable homes on site and we’re seeking to deliver an additional 150 new affordable homes over the next 18 months – that’s just for Inverness.”