COUNCIL tenants in East Lothian will see rent go up by seven per cent this year – despite an overwhelming rejection of the plan by the residents themselves.

East Lothian Council’s Labour administration set its budget at a meeting today and blamed the increase in rents on a decision by the Scottish Government to cut national funding for affordable housing projects.

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However, at the special meeting of elected members, the SNP opposition rejected the claim, calling on Labour councillors to stop blaming others and instead look at their own actions.

A consultation on the rent rise held at the end of last year found that only three per cent of those taking part backed the seven per cent rise, with 86 per cent backing a more modest five per cent increase and the rest supporting six per cent.

At Tuesday's meeting, the council’s Labour administration put forward the higher rate of increase, saying that it was the only way they would be able to meet their planned programme of building and upgrading the housing stock.

The rise will mean that the average weekly rent will go up from £76.69 to £82.06.

'Nowhere to go'

Councillor Andy Forrest, cabinet spokesperson for housing, said that the rent was the second lowest charged by local authorities in Scotland but stated that a decision by the Scottish Government to reduce funding for affordable housing programmes had forced the price up.

He said: “There is no doubt we are in the middle of a housing crisis but, even in this time of need, a decision has been taken to cut the affordable housing budget.

“House prices and private rent costs are out of control and out of reach of ordinary people.

“Across Scotland we have one in 20 people waiting for a council house and someone loses their home every 19 minutes.

“This has been a very difficult decision for me; however, the actions and decisions of Government have left me with nowhere to go.

"If we want to continue delivering priorities important to our tenants, we have to introduce the increase”

'The big laddie'

However, SNP councillor Lee-Anne Menzies said that placing the blame with the Scottish Government was a "lack of taking responsibility".

And she criticised the claims that the rent was the "second lowest in Scotland", describing it as "falsely low".

She said: “It is all about the big laddie did it and ran away, not taking responsibility. How can we ever hope to be better if we do not self-reflect?”

Ms Menzies said that there were tenants in houses with damp and mould, and not enough funds to bring them up to acceptable living standards.

She said: “We need to put the rents up, that is a fact.

"We don’t have enough money to bring houses to the standard that is a human right.

"We need to fund the housing revenue and we cannot wait for the big laddie to give us more funding.

“We need to be a responsible landlord, and a responsible landlord does not set up tenants with falsely low rents so they can make good political choices.

"It is the easy way out, not the right way.”

Councillors unanimously approved the increase in rent.