News

Plans to build over 800 new homes on the site of the former West Lothian hospital are to continue after councillors failed to reach a decision on the application. The proposal for a residential and mixed use development at the former Bangour Village Hospital site in Dechmont was discussed at a meeti

A prison governor has revealed that new prisons for women will resemble flats and will have cooking and laundry facilities. Rhona Hotchkiss, governor of Cornton Vale prison, said women in a number of new custodial units would also be able to come and go to gyms and work placements and that the commu

Councils have until the end of today to decide whether to accept a funding deal from the Scottish Government. Finance secretary John Swinney held talks with council representatives last month as he asked them to accept the “challenging but fair” Local Government Finance Settlement.

Laurieston Transformational Regeneration Area The Laurieston Transformational Regeneration Area has been named as one of six housing projects across the UK to compete for the Royal Town Planning Institute’s (RTPI) prestigious planning awards this year.

Wind power alone provided almost half of Scotland’s total electricity needs in January, according to new data. Analysis by WWF Scotland of data provided by WeatherEnergy found that for the month of January wind turbines in Scotland provided 1,125,544MWh of electricity to the National Grid, enough

A specialist service which supports domestic abuse victims with housing issues in the Scottish Borders has reached its 100th referral. The milestone for the Safe Housing Options service, operated by Scottish Borders Council’s Safer Communities team, was achieved in the space of just nine month

Midlothian Council has secured a £3.4 million grant allocation to boost local communities. The local authority will use the funding to operate the Tyne Esk LEADER programme throughout the Midlothian and East Lothian regions.

They say life begins at 30, but housing and care provider Blackwood chose to commemorate its Laura Fergusson Court development’s 35th anniversary in style, with the unveiling of a sleek, newly revamped lounge. Tenants and staff at the housing development in Craigmount Brae kicked off the landmark

Housing and care provider Bield is highlighting the important role that friendship can play in assisting older people to enjoy happy and fulfilled lives. Bield’s befriending initiative has proved hugely successful and is now being launched at its Dean Court Retirement Housing development in Bo’n

New powers are to be introduced to enable local authorities to take action against private landlords who do not maintain homes to proper living standards. From April, provisions enacted in the Housing (Scotland) Act will give councils a right of entry to the privately rented homes as well as the abi

Alex Neil Social justice secretary Alex Neil has called for “urgent clarification” from the UK government around the proposal to restrict housing benefit for tenants in supported and women’s aid refuge accommodation.

Scottish Borders Council has estimated that 130 posts may be reduced as part of making efficiencies in the coming financial year, though it has ensured that this will not result in the loss of any staff. As the local authority prepares to outline its budget proposals for 2016/17, council leader Dav

By Scottish Empty Homes Partnership national manager Kristen Hubert (Last week) we released our recommendations about what financial incentive programmes we think are needed to unlock more of Scotland’s 27,000+ long term private sector empty homes.

Andrew Burns The City of Edinburgh Council is on target to meet its planned savings of £49 million for the current financial year after making “considerable progress” in addressing its financial challenges.

Bill Banks, chief executive at Kingdom Housing Association; Allan Cairns; Moray Glennie, senior development officer at Kingdom Housing Association; Joanne Aitken, development worker at Fife Works; Archie Sprunt and Jim Murphy, MD Abbotshall Homes A local man's 10 year search for a job has ended with