Bigger council town houses with five or six bedrooms are needed to accommodate large families in West Dunbartonshire according to a Leven ward SNP councillor.
During the most recent housing and communities committee, which updated members on the council’s progress in delivering more affordable housing, councillor Ian Dickson asked if more could be done to provide suitable homes for large families.
It comes following a successful funding application to the Scottish Government’s vacant and derelict land fund of £1.25 million to allow the local authority to build 27 new homes in Pappert, Bonhill - some of which could accommodate up to seven people.
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Councillor Dickson said: “I continue to welcome the construction of the larger family homes planned in Pappert and Clydebank. But there remain a few families waiting on very large homes.
“Families are waiting for years and not months [for a home]. I have mentioned before about a family whose children are grown up and leaving school so in a couple of years - they won’t even need that larger house.
“I know in the past, we have looked to join two adjacent homes together but I wonder if we might plan to build just a handful of extra large properties - by that I mean five or six bedroom homes.
“There are one or two gap sites that could accommodate semi-detached town houses with five or six bedrooms. Town houses would be in keeping with the types of builds we already have in Bonhill for example.
“That would accommodate these families an awful lot sooner than the five or 10 years they have been waiting for. West Dunbartonshire Council is never going to have one of these super sized homes become vacant because they don’t have them.
“It would be good fortune if one or two properties become available that we can convert. Given that there are exceptions of families with eight or nine members, would the convenor of housing be happy to discuss this with me further and give some honest and serious consideration to building these extra large homes going forward?"
West Dunbartonshire Council has already started a planning consultation with residents for the Pappert housing development ahead of any planning applications being submitted.
As it stands, proposals would see seven Passivhaus homes and 20 meeting the net zero ready standard with between three and four bedrooms sleeping between four and seven people.
Councillor Dickson added: “Having played my part in getting the Bonhill gap sites off the ground, I wanted to thank the various officers and teams for all the work they have done on that and especially for achieving the extra £1.25 million for that innovative development.”
Chairman, councillor Gurpreet Singh Johal said that he would be happy to discuss other options for housing larger families in the area.
Peter Barry, chief officer of housing and employability, said: “We recognise the importance of responding to the needs of all our families irrespective of their size. That’s a legal and a moral duty that we have.
“Yes we can have a discussion on building extra large homes.”
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