This month sees North Lanarkshire Council reach the important milestone of its tenth year in existence.

And to mark this unique anniversary, the council is taking the opportunity to look at the progress and achievements made over this period.

The council’s housing and property service has experienced many changes over its ten years and now approaches the next decade as Scotland’s largest public sector landlord with almost 40,000 tenants.

The improvements to homes and local communities hasn’t happened overnight, and has involved careful planning and consultation to ensure investment is effectively targeted and that housing services meet the needs of tenants. Investment in improving the housing stock is at record levels and the council has recently announced its investment plans of £40 million each year over the next ten years.

Councillor Gerry McLaughlin, Convener of the Housing and Property Services Committee said:-

"This council has continued to invest substantially, not only in its own housing stock, but has also committed funding to private sector housing by providing grants for disabled adaptations and grants for elderly owners undertaking essential repairs. It has also set up its award winning Anti Social Task Force to improve community safety, has increased the involvement of tenants and developed improved services for our customers.

"In addition, commitment has been made to staff development and positive practices introduced that have seen a number of accolades awarded for our service provision and to our staff, including Investors in People and Charter Mark.

"These improvements have made a real difference to the lives of tenants. There is still work to do and we’re planning ahead to continue to deliver services that our tenants have told us are their priorities. I look forward to building on these achievements and continuing to improve our local communities."

Some of the significant achievements to date include:-

• Developing a network of 12 First Stop Shops and 5 neighbourhood offices to ensure customers have easier access to the wide range of services provided;
• £39 million spent on estate regeneration across North Lanarkshire;
• £83 million invested on energy efficiency measures including heating, insulation schemes, tower block refurbishment, window and door replacement;
• £86 million on major repairs and environmental improvements, such as re-roofing and re-rendering, lift replacement, painterwork and roughcasting;
• £7 million on community care initiatives which include the provision of community alarms, adaptations and sheltered housing;
• Provision of adaptations for disabled people totalling £4.3 million;
• Tenant led inspections, a highly acclaimed yearly tenants’ conference and fifty groups representing tenants in North Lanarkshire, show our commitment to tenant involvement;
• Our innovative approach to tackling antisocial behaviour. This involves a team of offers delivering a key service 24 hours-a-day, 365 days-a-year and over 100 Antisocial Behaviour Orders issued
• Implementing a series of recommendations put forward by the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate and being commended for the benefit processes now in place, and
• Maintaining one of the lowest rent levels in Scotland, with this year’s increase being the lowest ever in the council’s ten-year existence.

The council has also continued to perform well, year-on-year, in line with key performance indicators set by Audit Scotland. For example, North Lanarkshire is only one of a small number of the 32 Scottish councils to meet rent arrears targets set. By collecting as much of its rent as possible the council ensures that this money is re-invested in providing housing services and maintaining its properties.

Another area the council has continued to make positive progress in is managing tenancy changes. Unoccupied council houses result in rent loss for the council and housing services has improved its performance by re-letting these as quickly as possible to help reduce rent loss. These examples demonstrate the council’s commitment to delivering efficient and effective services, which also offer best value to customers.