Building Work Starts at Arbroath’s Abbey Quarter

Works has begun in the last week on our Abbey Quarter project to deliver 40 new affordable Council homes for rent in the former Guthrie Hill/Smithy Croft area. The construction company  Hadden Group has been appointed to build the Abbey Quarter homes.

Councillor Craig Fotheringham, Communities convener, and Communities vice-convener Lois Speed met with other Arbroath elected members and Angus Council officials on site to mark the occasion.

Councillor Fotheringham said: “Arbroath Abbey is historically and culturally important and the new development will improve this previously unpopular area to become a place where people can enjoy life and living. I am delighted to see the start of this two-year project, which is supported by the Scottish Government Affordable Housing Supply Programme. It will deliver modern low-rise affordable Council accommodation for single people, couples and families, within an environment that has open spaces, landscaped areas and dedicated parking. The Abbey Quarter development will complement and enhance the approach to the Abbey and improve accessibility to Arbroath’s High Street retail area.”

Vice-convener, Councillor Speed said: “I’m looking forward to seeing this exciting new Council development take shape. We are providing modern sustainable homes within a sustainable environment in a way that is sympathetic to the project’s historic surroundings. Housing that will improve people’s quality of life and create places that people are proud to call home.”

Stephen Lynas, Business Development Director of Hadden Group, who have been appointed for the construction works, said: “We’re extremely pleased to be continuing our excellent working relationship with Angus Council which has developed over a number of housing projects and look forward to delivering much needed affordable homes by Arbroath Abbey.”

Photos from the event

 

Abbey Quarter is the latest development of the Angus Council . It is one of a number of sites that have been recently delivered or are underway to meet our target to deliver 350 new affordable homes over the next five years. For more information on the development see the Abbey Quarter short video.

To find out about  our other housing developments visit the Housing Developments website.

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National housing award for Dundee & Angus Empty Homes Officer

 

 

The Scottish Empty Homes Champion of the Year Awards took place on Wednesday 15 November 2017 as part of the Scottish Empty Homes Conference. The annual conference was being held this year at the Lighthouse, Glasgow.

The awards were presented by Kevin Stewart MSP, Minister for Local Government and Housing and Phil Hanson of Howden’s Joinery, the event sponsor.

There were 5 awards up for grabs in the following categories –

• Best Before and After Photograph
• Best Use of the Media (Angus Council a finalist in this category)
• Outstanding Service (Dundee & Angus Shared Service a finalist)
• Best Project
• Outstanding Individual (Sean Maxwell winner of this category)

Congratulations to Sean Maxwell, our Empty Homes Officer who was announced as the winner of the Outstanding Individual category.

The Howden’s Scottish Empty Homes Champion of the Year Award for this category is awarded to the individual who has over the past year, in the view of the judging panel, has gone above and beyond to promote and champion empty homes work in Scotland.

Scottish Government Action on Homelessness

 

The Scottish Government is taking urgent action on homelessness and is looking for advice and information from people who are homeless or have been homeless.

 So if you have been there yourself, you know what is important, please get along to the session organised by Glasgow Homelessness Network (GHN) nearest you in December 2017. There will be talk about homelessness and your view about what can be done to prevent and tackle homelessness is valuable for that consultation. Your advice will help GHN to make recommendations to Scottish Government Ministers.

 For more information see the Aye we can Leaflet

If you are unable to attend the session, there are other ways to get involved and have your say:

Website

Twitter

Email

Facebook

Phone: 0141 420 7272

SMS/Text: 07834 437 185

In person: Visit GHN any Tuesday afternoon or Friday morning at Unit 16a, Adelphi Centre, 12 Commercial Rd, Glasgow G5 0BQ

“Glasgow Homelessness Network is a third sector membership organisation with a unique role. They evidence and advance solutions to poor housing and homelessness by connecting the knowledge and experiences of people who both live and work with the issue”.

 

Andy Stewart Court tenants show their support for Macmillan Nurses

Residents of Andy Stewart Court, together with housing officers, ran a fundraising event for Macmillan Cancer Support and raised a whopping £800.00.

Well done Andy Stewart Court!

 

Help Us Plan a Better Future in Angus

Locality Implementation Partnerships are being formed across Angus in November. These partnerships offer an exciting opportunity to develop new ways of working together within Angus communities.  They will play a leading role in implementing Locality Plans, which are available along with the Angus Local Outcomes Improvement Plan on our website.  The partnerships will also be organising two wider partnership events each year, open to all organisations active in the area.

Please help us develop the best possible Angus Schools for the Future. Engagement events are taking place around Angus until 29 November – if you can’t manage any of them, you can still give your views by completing the online questionnaire.

Financial Capability Week in Angus 13-19 November

This week is the 2017 Financial Capability Week in the UK, and Angus Council is supporting the event via a series of social media releases posted during this week. Follow Angus Council Welfare Rights Facebook page to see the different theme of Financial Capability Posts each day:

Today will be posts about retirement planning and the pension wise project.

Wednesday will be about older people in retirement (pension credit, winter fuel allowance, Free TV licence for over 75’s).  

Thursday – you can find posts about financial difficulties/budgeting related/where to get help.

Friday – you’ll see the post about young people, EMA’s links to Young Scot webpages.

 

 

 

Supported housing available to let now

If you are looking for supported accommodation (also known as very sheltered or extra care housing) and are over 50 or over 60 years old, we have some properties on our Houses for immediate let website on angus.gov just now.

Supported housing helps people to retain their independence in their own tenancies, and offers the reassurance of 24 hour assistance from onsite staff when required. If you’re interested in this kind of accommodation, we’ll do an assessment of your needs to make sure it is right for you and you qualify for it.

Here are some photographs of the available schemes

St Drostan’s Court,Brechin 

 Provost Johnson Road, Montrose

To apply or to find other housing available to let, go to our

Houses for immediate let website

Empty Homes Officer nominated for national awards

 

 

Sean Maxwell

Empty Homes Officer

 

 

 

We are proud to announce that our Empty Homes Officer, Sean Maxwell, has been nominated for the Howden’s Champion of the Year Awards 2017 in three categories:

• Outstanding Service,
• Outstanding individual and
• the Best Use of the Media.

Sean spends half of his time with us and the other half with Dundee City Council in an innovative partnership agreement which helps both Councils to support landlords and owners to bring their empty properties back into use.

All at the Housing News Blog will be keeping our fingers crossed for Sean on 15 November 2017 when the winners will be announced during the Annual Scottish Empty Homes Conference in Glasgow.