Work begins on new council home development in Millerston
The properties will include a mix of one and two-bedroom flats, as well as two, three, and four-bedroom houses and a bungalow designed for disabled access.
Councillor Michael McPake, housing convener, said: "It's always pleasing to mark the beginning of another new council housing project which will deliver more new homes for our tenants, particularly in an area of high demand.
"We're making significant progress in delivering our new supply programme, providing jobs, boosting the local economy, and building homes for our tenants now and for generations to come.
"It's all part of our ambition to make North Lanarkshire the place to live, and I look forward to watching the new homes progress."
Read more: Plans to build five-bedroom villas revealed - what we know
(Image: North Lanarkshire Council) The £4.2 million development is being delivered in partnership with The JR Group and will receive grant funding from the Scottish Government's Affordable Housing Supply Programme.
Expected to be completed by spring 2026, the development will feature ground source heat pumps to reduce heating emissions, along with triple-glazed windows, high levels of insulation, and solar panels.
The homes are designed to meet Housing for Varying Needs standards, allowing them to adapt to residents' changing requirements, and are built to Secure by Design principles to improve safety and security.
Read more: 'Urgent' road closure put in place in busy area - here's where
Gary McGregor, managing director of The JR Group, said: "As a business, we are committed to playing our part in delivering much-needed, energy-efficient new homes to communities across Scotland, so it is fantastic to be working alongside North Lanarkshire Council to deliver our first project for them.
"Coshneuk Road is a well-considered development and sits in a fantastic, well-established community, close to local amenities.
"As a brownfield site, it is great to see it brought back to life and given a new purpose.
"The homes we are building here are modern, spacious, and energy efficient, and we look forward to progressing works in the coming months."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Festival seeks tourist tax help as it faces hike in costs
Although the city council has predicted it will generate an additional £50m a year by 2028, the city's festivals do not know if they will see any direct investment. Read more: In a wide-ranging interview with The Herald, EIF chief executive Francesca Hegyi, said the rising costs faced by the city's major cultural events were no longer viable under current levels of funding support and financial pressures. The EIF, which currently gets around £1.9m a year from the city council, has been on standstill funding from the city council since 2019 when it was hit with a nine per cent funding cut. The Edinburgh International Festival got underway last week. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Ms Hegyi called for a 'mindshift' in how the festivals are treated by the city council and the Scottish Government, and for greater collaboration between the cities major cultural events. She suggested they could work together to explore broadcast partnerships and a shared box office system, which could help the festivals attract new commercial sponsorship. Francesca Hegyi, chief executive of the Edinburgh International Festival, wants the event to get some form of rebate for the accommodation it books in future. (Image: Gordon Terris/Herald & Times) Under the city council's plans for the introduction of the visitor levy, it will affect bookings for stays of up to five days from July 24 next year – just days before Edinburgh's 2026 summer festivals seasons will get underway. The Herald told earlier this month how Edinburgh's festivals, venues and performers were being urged to book accommodation a year in advance to avoid the tourist tax. Event organisers, venues and artists are being urged to take advantage of a "window" before the start of October, when the five per cent levy will start to be added to accommodation bills for the 2026 summer festivals season. The EIF meets the accommodation costs of artists and crew working at the event, but is not expected to finalise its programme until the end of the year. Ms Hegyi told The Herald: 'I actually think there is a massive opportunity around visitor Levy, actually, and I'm generally quite positive about it. 'Anything that increases the pot available to the city, for infrastructure, for communities, for festivals, and arts and culture in general, has absolutely got to be a good thing. 'I think the significance of the visitor levy shouldn't be understated because, to my knowledge, the first major source of new revenue that's come along for many years. 'The devil is in the detail about how it will work. The one hesitation I have about it is that, as it currently stands, this festival will between £50,000 and £60,000 worse off because we will be charged the levy when we book accommodation for our visiting artists and crew. The only certainty I have right now is that the festival is going to be worse off." Edinburgh's festivals are represented on an independent advisory group which will produce recommendations on how income raised through the visitor levy should be spent. Under current proposals – which will affect hotels, self-catering properties and short-term lets – 35 per cent of the funds raised will be distributed across 'culture, heritage and events.' Ms Hegyi added: 'I would hate for us to be out of pocket as a result of the visitor levy. What I would like the council to consider is some sort of rebate mechanism for those cultural institutions and attractions which are the reason why visitors come to the city. 'I understand exemptions are difficult, but it would be really helpful if a rebate could be considered. It would just be perverse if a scheme that's meant to benefit cultural organisations ended up costing them money.' The EIF was forced to scale back this year's programme due to uncertainty over its future Scottish Government funding. A long-awaited decision was put back from October to January after the government refused to sign off a budget for its arts agency, Creative Scotland, before setting out its own spending plans last December. The EIF's core government funding, which had been pegged at around £2.3m for more than a decade, was increased to £3.25m for the current financial year and £4.25m annually for the following two years. The city council's funding for the EIF is expected to remain just over £1.9m until at least 2027-28 under a three-year programme to support festivals, events and cultural venues in the city. However the council has instigated a new 'Festivals City Leadership Group,' which also involves the Scottish Government, to help tackle the biggest challenges faced by the city's major cultural events. Ms Hegyi said: 'One of the topics this group is look at is the whole question of accommodation and what we can do collectively to ensure that the festivals can be affordable in future. 'I think there is acceptance from everyone around the table that the status quo just isn't viable anymore. 'The idea that the festivals are sustainable in the long run under the current support mechanisms and what is being asked of festivals has gone. 'I think there's an acknowledgment that we've got to move on. 'For public funding agencies, that's about considering how they value the festivals in the round. 'What I'd like to see is a mindshift in the way that festivals are considered and treated, That's not necessarily about money. "One of the challenges we all need to get grips with is the inherent fragmentation of the festivals. We're all different, separate and independent. We'll always be that way. "But I think we probably could and should do more to coordinate to make it easier for residents and visitors who want to engage with the festivals in some way, and have a single front door to buy tickets. "There is an appetite among some of the festivals to think in that way so we can be more coordinated. Our chances of attracting new forms of income - whether through broadcast partnerships or commercial partnerships - on a scale that isn't possible with an individual festival. "One of the good things that has happened in the last year is that with the Creative Scotland settlements we've finally been able to move out of crisis mode, start to look a bit further ahead and start to dream a little bit." The Herald has teamed up with to make the purchase of tickets for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe so much easier. To buy tickets, click here
Scotsman
6 hours ago
- Scotsman
Top 10 housebuilder celebrates transformation of abandoned land in Ravenscraig
Top 10 housebuilder Keepmoat is celebrating the completion of its The Castings development on Meadowhead Road in Ravenscraig, which saw 14.2 acres of disused land transformed into a vibrant, new community. Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The housebuilder started on site in 2019, working with multiple partners to regenerate a disused sports ground and former council offices into 170 high-quality homes, including 12 affordable homes with North Lanarkshire Council. The newly created community represents an £11.3 million investment from the housebuilder, which specialises in transforming brownfield sites into thriving new communities. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Tim Metcalfe, Regional Managing Director at Keepmoat, Scotland, said: 'The Keepmoat team is delighted to finalise the last few sales at The Castings and breathe new life into Ravenscraig. Credit: Keepmoat, The Castings 'The homes at The Castings feature proofing technologies including solar panels - which reduce carbon emissions by up to two-thirds compared to older housing stock. This not only helps residents save money on their bills but also ensures they live in homes built for the future. 'At Keepmoat, our goal is to build more than just houses. We are committed to regenerating areas sustainably and creating communities where people want to live.' The housebuilder has also invested in establishing connections to the wider Ravenscraig area and creating a green open space featuring a play area for residents. Natasha Smith moved into her Keepmoat home at The Castings in 2024, where she lives with her boyfriend. She added: 'As soon as we viewed the home from Keepmoat I knew it was the one for us. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Our journey has been seamless and we absolutely love the community here. It might be a new build estate but the values are wonderfully old fashioned with lots of events available for residents and everyone knows everyone!'
Scotsman
8 hours ago
- Scotsman
Report for 'doomed to fail' minimum income guarantee cost £1.3m as SNP exercise branded 'waste of time'
Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... SNP ministers spent £1.3 million on a report into introducing a new welfare system despite knowing the scheme was 'doomed to fail'. The Scottish Government commissioned an expert panel to look at how it might implement a policy of bringing in a minimum income for all Scots. Findings from the Minimum Income Guarantee Expert Group included giving single parents in Scotland up to £28,000 in benefits without working. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A general view of the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh | PA However, sources close to the project insist there is little appetite to introduce the scheme, branded an 'absurd' policy by opposition parties. Now figures, released under Freedom of Information rules, show the costs for the expert group's final report were £280,000. The group was supported by a government secretariat of five civil servants, making their salary costs over the time of generating the report around £260,000 a year. It took from August 2021 to May 2025 - three years and ten months - to develop the findings. This is despite the fact the Holyrood Government does not have devolved all the reserved powers necessary to introduce a minimum income guarantee. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A recommendation of the report is the Scottish and UK governments should set up a "co-operation commission" to work out what powers would be needed. An SNP insider said the report was a 'waste of time' and 'doomed to fail'. The source said: 'This report is going to be used as a springboard for charities to lobby government for a minimum income guarantee - despite the fact it is impossible to see how we could afford to pay for it. 'We've paid a significant sum for a report we don't agree with and that was doomed to fail, are now likely to distance ourselves from and now are going to be lobbied to implement it. It's not just a waste of time and money, but also a disappointment for the charities involved.' On publication of the minimum income guarantee report, Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the Government would consider the findings after the Holyrood recess. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad SNP Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville hoped to sort housing emergency (Picture: Jeff) Shadow finance secretary Craig Hoy said the report was a 'shocking waste of taxpayers' money'. He said: 'Especially when it was to explore a half-baked policy that everyone knew would be unaffordable and damaging. It's typical that the SNP's reaction is now to try to bury the issue and dodge responsibility. 'They should immediately rule out a minimum income guarantee – an absurd and eye-wateringly expensive policy that they have no powers to introduce. But they also owe Scots an explanation for why they ever devoted public money and civil servants' time to this idea, and a detailed account of how so much taxpayers' cash was wasted on this ridiculous report.' The Scottish Government initially declined The Scotsman's FOI request but, on appeal, gave a partial response. Using the pay bands of each civil servant in the secretariat, the salary costs per year would amount to around £260,000 annually. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A plan to bring in a minimum income for all Scots has been under consideration for several years. Supporters claim it would make for a fairer society with a reduced level of poverty if every Scot had a definite basic income, with the suggestion it would 'would effectively end poverty for those in receipt'. Opponents, however, claim it is too expensive a policy to implement and raise concerns that people would not work if they did not have to earn additional income. The report from the independent expert group, which included representatives from 16 groups such as social mobility organisations, universities and charities, recommended the base income be £11,500 for a single adult. A couple would receive £20,000 while a couple with one child or a lone adult with two children would receive £28,000. As their earnings rose to exceed the minimum income threshold, the payments would taper off. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The group laid out a series of plans to be rolled out over the next decade that would pave the way for Scotland to introduce a minimum income guarantee from 2036. At the launch of the report in June, Satwat Rehman, one of the members of the group and chief executive of One Parent Families Scotland, said: 'A minimum income guarantee would provide a lifeline, ensuring no single-parent household falls below a dignified minimum income – whether in or out of work, studying or training – and ensure families and children thrive and not just survive.'
