Members of the housing and technical resources committee approved South Lanarkshire Council’s new Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) for 2018 to 2023 after hearing details when the committee met last week.

The new SHIP is a key element of the Local Housing Strategy and sets out affordable housing development priorities which will deliver up to 2670 new affordable homes in the area.

Executive director of housing and technical resources, Daniel Lowe, said: “The Strategic Housing Investment Plan is key to successfully meeting the ambitious target of delivering well over two and a half thousand new affordable homes for communities throughout South Lanarkshire.

“A great deal of hard work has been put into preparing a well thought out and detailed SHIP in time for the Committee to review and approve this well ahead of the Scottish Government’s submission deadline at the end of this month.”

The SHIP has been prepared taking account of the Scottish Government’s announcement earlier this year that South Lanarkshire would have access to a minimum of £76.758 million in grant funding for homes in the three years to March 2021 – a 76% increase from the figures used to prepare the previous SHIP.

The projected figures for new affordable homes include proposals by both South Lanarkshire Council and Registered Social Landlord partners.

It is anticipated that over the five year period of the SHIP new affordable housing supply will be split across the four housing market areas of South Lanarkshire Council, targeting priority areas where there is real housing pressure.