Item 9 - WDC Affordable Housing Supply Delivery Programme

West Dunbartonshire Council · 20 August 2025
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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL
Report by the Chief Officer, Housing
Housing and Communities Committee: 20 August 2025
Subject: More Homes West Dunbartonshire – West Dunbartonshire Council
Affordable Housing Supply Delivery Programme
1. Purpose
1.1      This purpose of this report is to update the Housing and Communities
Committee on progress with West Dunbartonshire’s More Homes Programme
which oversees the delivery of the Council’s new home building programme.
2. Recommendations
2.1 It is recommended that the Housing and Communities Committee:
(i) Notes the content of the report and the progress made to date in the
delivery of the Council’s More Homes West Dunbartonshire approach,
including the final handovers of new homes at the zero carbon Pappert
and Mount Pleasant developments which completes two significant
housing-led regeneration projects; and 
(ii) Approve a temporary suspension of letting activity at Young Street
sheltered housing complex until the consultation exercise is completed
regarding future housing provision at Young Street/West Thomson Street
and 
(iii) Approves the Chief Officer, Housing and Employability, to direct award a
design and build contract to deliver the Silverton regeneration project up to
the budgeted costs for project (Dumbuie Avenue and Smollett Road)
3. Background
3.1 In West Dunbartonshire the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) is
delivered through a More Homes West Dunbartonshire strategic approach
which has successfully delivered over one thousand new affordable homes in
West Dunbartonshire to date and includes the Council’s own ambitious New
House Building Programme.
3.2 The Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) 2025-2030, outlining West   
Dunbartonshire’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme through the More
Homes West Dunbartonshire approach was approved by the Housing and
Communities Committee in November 2024. The SHIP outline plans to
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contribute to meet the Council Administration’s aim of delivering 2500 new
affordable and social rented homes over the 10-year period 2022-2032.
4. Main Issues
More Homes West Dunbartonshire - Delivery Programme
4.1 Building new affordable homes has the key role to play in the Housing
Emergency, revitalising local economies and assisting with post-pandemic
and economic recovery plans, negating the impacts of the current cost of
living crisis and combatting poverty principally child and fuel poverty.  It is also
clear that the need for affordable homes has and will increase in the current
ongoing economic environment.
4.2 The Council’s More Homes West Dunbartonshire approach is an ambitious
plan that aims to continue the positive momentum of the delivery of much
needed Council homes in West Dunbartonshire and will significantly assist the
Council’s aim to deliver 2500 new social and affordable homes by 2032.
4.3 As the largest affordable housing developer in West Dunbartonshire, the
Council has identified several future development sites for new council homes
to address existing and new housing need. The design of these homes will
further develop, improve, and exceed current best practice, providing
sustainable homes using innovative technology and delivering on our low
carbon ambitions including Passivhaus and other net zero carbon
opportunities.
4.4 The Council’s More Homes West Dunbartonshire approach has evidenced
strong support from council tenants and was recently highlighted as one of the
two key future spending priority areas for tenants through the comprehensive
tenant satisfaction survey undertaken in late 2024. 
4.5 The Strategic Housing Investment Plan and HRA Capital Plan outlined the
plans the Council have for meeting their new build ambitions.  An update on
each development site is provide below: -
Pappert, Bonhill
This development has now completed and has delivered 26 net zero homes
for affordable social rent in the Bonhill area -
House Type Sustainability Standard Number of New
Homes
House 3bed/5 person Passivhaus 6
House 3bed/5 person Net Zero 6
House 4bed/6person Net Zero 4
House 4bed/7person Net Zero 1
Flat 2bed/3person w/c Net Zero 3
Flat 1 bed/2person Net Zero 6

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The practical completion date was 6 June 2025.
Mount Pleasant, Old Kilpatrick
The 19-unit development, which is designed for elderly residents and delivers
high quality amenity housing, was completed over 2 weeks early on 8 May
2025. The housing mix is outlined below for information:
Willox Park, Doveholm, Dumbarton
The development of 17 new homes for the elderly at a former care home site
will comprise of the housing mix below.
House Type Sustainability Standard Number of New
Homes
Flat 2bed/3person Net Zero 2
Flat 1 bed/2person Net Zero 15
McTaggart construction are on week 30/52 build programme to deliver 17 new
sheltered housing units. This will be our first project using a ground source
heat network to deliver heat and hot water.
Current tenants at Willox Park have been consulted throughout the design
process and this has continued with the contractor holding Q&A sessions. 
We are currently working with the existing tenants to ensure they have an up-
to-date housing application live to make sure the process of moving into the
new facility is as easy and streamlined as possible.
The move to the new facility is planned for November 2025.
Bonhill Gap Site Strategy
The 28 units of housing at Braehead (17) and Campbell Street (11) will be on
site as of 4 August 2025.
The new tender for the O’Hare project (6 units) is currently being drafted, this
is a result of undertaking an analysis of the energy specification and the
decision of the More Homes Board to retender with a new specification.  The
housing mix of the full Bonhill Gap Site development programme is
highlighted below: -
House Size Sustainability Standard Number of New
Homes
House Type Sustainability Standard Number of New
Homes
Bungalow 1bed/2person Net Zero 3
Flat 1bed/2person w/c Net Zero 4
Flat 1bed/2person Net Zero 4
Flat 2bed/4person Net Zero 8

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1bed wheelchair Net Zero 4
1 bed general needs Net Zero 16
2 bed wheelchair Net Zero 3
3 bed general needs Net Zero 3
4 bed general needs Net Zero 2
5 bed general needs Net Zero 4
7 bed general needs Net Zero 2
Bank Street, Alexandria
The development will consist of twenty-two sheltered/amenity housing units in
partnership with the HSCP. Planning has been submitted and approved.
House Type Sustainability Standard Number of New
Homes
Flat 1bed/2person w/c Net Zero 22
Communal Room Net Zero 1
Staff Office Net Zero 1
The contract for this project has been awarded to the JR Group. This tender
return has returned a competitive price of £5.375m against an estimated cost
of £7.79million.
Similar to the development at Willox Park, tenants at Gray Street have been
consulted throughout the design process and will be assisted to make the
transition as smooth as possible.
West Thomson Street (former Clydebank Health Centre)
Demolition of the former Clydebank Health Centre building was completed in
late 2024.
The development will complete 42 units of housing in total - 15 units of family
housing and 27, fully accessible, sheltered/amenity housing units. The
housing mix can be seen below: -
House Type Bed Number WCH
Sheltered/Amenity
Flat
1 27 27
Cottage Flat 1 2 2
Duplex Cottage Flat 3 2
House 5 2
House 4 5
House 3 4
Total 42 27
The pre-planning application process is on-going with a planning submission
planned for the end of August 2025. We are seeking to tender for a contractor

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through the SPA H2 Framework (Workstream 2). We are seeking approval
from the committee to temporarily suspend lettings within the Young Street
sheltered housing complex as we complete a consultative exercise which
could see the sheltered/amenity new housing provision as replacement
housing for the existing Young Street tenants.
This would follow the previous decision to upgrade the sheltered housing
complexes in Alexandria (Bank Street) and Dumbarton (Willox Park). The
demolition of the former Clydebank Health Centre offers the opportunity to
develop improved housing suitable to the current and future housing needs of
the residential demographic.
The current Young Street complex does not meet contemporary inclusive
living, ageing in place or housing for varying needs standards. For example,
there is no lift access, many flats are not suitable for needs associated with
ageing and require OT input, and there is a lack of dementia friendly design
both internally and externally, the flat layouts are not all wheelchair compliant,
there is a lack of facilities including communal indoor and outdoor space, the
location is isolated and there is no parking provision.
With an ageing demographic (1 in 5 over 65; 90,000 with dementia) and with
the number of years without a disabling condition declining, housing has to
prepare for the future demographic shift of which we are “woefully
underprepared” (McColl, 2022). Housing as a sector has a responsibility to
ensure we are making efforts to support ageing in the right place and in
tackling place, age, and tenure-based social inequalities.
Consultation with the residents is on-going. We have held four consultation
meetings with the residents, including visiting with the residents and their
families who were unable to attend previous meetings. During the initial
engagement tenants have indicated a preference for the relocation of the
Young Street sheltered provision within the West Thomson Street
development citing a more central location, access to maintained outdoor
space, and having the opportunity of living in modern, accessible
accommodation as factors that have influenced their thinking. However, we
intend to undertake a formal consultative exercise with all remaining Young
Street tenants and will report back to a future Housing and Communities
Committee and intend to cease letting activity until November 2025 unless in
emergency circumstances.  It is intended that during this period Young Street
tenants will have an opportunity to visit the Willox Park new build
development.
Gilmour Avenue, Hardgate
The development started on site on 23/9/2024. Following the administration of
the initial contractor (Connect Modular), CCG have been appointed to
complete the 2x 3-bedroom homes. The new estimated completion date is
expected to be September 2025.

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Dennystoun Forge Gypsy/Traveller Site
The project has been scored and assessed as a priority in the new SHIP, with
a proposed site start next financial year 2026/27. Our in-house design team
and procurement colleagues are proceeding to detail our plans, and
discussions are taking place with other council service areas in terms of
assessing potential decant location options to allow the works within the
existing site to commence.
Regular engagement continues with the Dennystoun Forge community
through monthly engagement meetings. The community are supported by
Minority Ethnic Carers of People Project (MECOPP) including representation
by the charity at these engagement sessions.  The regular engagement has
been welcomed by the community and has with dedicated staff resource led
to a strong collaborative focus on the delivery of the new accommodation.
Our focus remains on identifying suitable decant options and on what type of
chalet will be chosen for the final design. We are consulting on to what extent
home design can be customised to meet individual needs.
The Scottish Government is drafting guidance on how these projects will be
funded through the AHSP from 2026/27, and we are contributing to the
consultations on how this will look.
Queen Mary Avenue, Clydebank (Clydebank Gap Sites)
This development proposes 17 new units on the now demolished Queen Mary
Day Centre in Drumry. 
House Type Sustainability Standard Number of New
Homes
1 bed/2 person  Cottage Flat Net Zero 10
2 bed/3 person WCH Cottage Flat Net Zero 1
3 bed/4 person Cottage Flat Net Zero 1
3 bedroom terraced house Net Zero 3
4 bedroom semi-detached Net Zero 2
CCG, with Oliver and Robb architects have undertaken the design stage for
this site and will be appointed as contractor and architect at the construction
stage. 
Planning for this site was granted on 4 July 2025. The team are working
towards a start date on site of October 2025.
Dumbuie Avenue and Smollett Road (Silverton Regeneration)

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The Council has been working on this site for over 10 years, following
structural issues with the properties, structural surveys at the properties at
113-123 Dumbuie Avenue and 8-12 Smollett identified them as deemed
defective.
West Dunbartonshire Tenants were decanted, and the Council bought back,
through our buy back scheme, the houses previously sold under the Right to
Buy.  The last buy back was completed in September 2023.
The 9 houses were demolished in November 2024. Regeneration work will
extend over the 2 sites, which are about 500m apart. An initial feasibility for
this site has identified the potential for around 9 new homes.
The development at Smollett Road is restricted to 3 x 2 storey homes on the
original footprint, due to the ongoing flood prevention works, associated with
the Gruggies Burn flood alleviation project. Our proposed housing mix across
both sites:
Dumbuie Avenue
2 x 3 bed semi-detached
2 x 4 bed semi-detached
2 x 1 bed wheelchair bungalow
Smollett Road
3 terraced properties
2 x 4 bed
1 x 3 bed
Due to the small lot size and the need to continue the design externally,
Committee approval is sought to direct appoint a design and build contractor
from an approved framework to deliver this project up to an estimated cost of
£2,700,00.
We have appointed an external Quantity Surveyor to assist, and consultancy
services will provide the role of Employer's agent.
This project is included within our Strategic Housing Investment Plan, as a
future site and we would look to include this in our pipeline work for 2026/27
for the purpose of funding from the Affordable Housing Supply Budget.
Queens Quay, Site C, Clydebank
The Council has been developing a design to deliver a projected twenty units
on this site to complement the housing mix within sites A and B.  This
development will also be designed to meet low/zero carbon principles and
linked to the Queens Quay district heating network.
.

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Pre-planning response was received on the 25 February highlighting concern
of the WDC development proceeding in isolation. We have adopted a
proactive response to this issue and have developed masterplan diagrams
incorporating the surrounding sites and have conducted valuations on the
adjacent site to Queens Quay C with a view to purchasing additional land to
deliver more affordable housing on the Queens Quay regeneration site. If this
is achieved, we would seek to develop a mixed tenure approach to any
expanded development site delivering one hundred new affordable homes.
We are seeking discussion with CRL (Clydeside Regeneration Limited) to
progress the possibility of acquiring this additional land and will be able to
draw down Scottish Government grant to enable this. However, because of
the uncertainties surrounding potential delivery timescales for this project and
the reduced funding it is no longer allocated funding within the current
Strategic Housing Investment Programme.
Buyback Programme
Total number of properties purchased in 2025/26 financial year 10
Total Purchase Value                            £828,500
PROPERTY SIZE PURCHASED
6 apt 0
5 apt 2
4 apt 3
3 apt 0
2 apt 5
4.6 In 2024/25 the Council’s Annual Resource Planning Assumption (RPA) from
the Scottish Government supporting the delivery of the SHIP was reduced to
£8.167m which represented a cut of around 24%.  However, for 2025/26 the
RPA has been increased to a minimum of £11,053m this will significantly
assist in the delivery of the Council’s SHIP.
4.7 The Housing Development Team are continuously looking for opportunities to
provide additional new build council homes and will bring any potential site to
the Housing and Communities Committee with as much information as
possible as part of the regular More Homes update paper.
5. People Implications
5.1 The delivery of the More Homes delivery programme is managed through
existing resource within the Housing Development & Homelessness team
funded from the Housing Capital Investment Programme. 
6. Financial and Procurement Implications
Financial

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6.1 The Council has to date delivered 584 new homes for social rent; these
additional homes bring council tax revenue of around £810k per year to West
Dunbartonshire Council.
6.2 On 5 March 2025 supported by tenant representatives the Council approved
the Housing Capital Programme 2025-2030 which saw significant resources
committed to the delivery of new council homes in West Dunbartonshire.  A
net expenditure budget of £69m for the affordable housing supply programme
is factored into the HRA Capital Programme.  As it currently stands, it is
anticipated that this programme will complete on project life budget.
6.3 Housing and Finance Officers will continue to assess the ongoing affordability
of future developments within the context of the Housing Revenue Account
Business Plan.
Procurement
6.4 All new development sites will be subject to new detailed procurement
strategies and the opportunities highlighted within 4.5 of this report will
continue to be prioritised. Where the contract award is less than £213,000,
authority is delegated to the Chief Officer in consultation with the Procurement
Manager to instruct the award of contracts for the planned revenue and
capital spend detailed in this report to suppliers providing the most
economically advantageous offer to the Council.
6.5 All procurement activity conducted by the Council more than £2m is.
subject to a contract strategy. The contract strategy for new housing
development within the HRA Capital Programme will be developed by the
Corporate Procurement Unit in consultation with Housing Development
Officers. The contract strategy will include, but is not limited to; contract
scope, service forward plan, the market, procurement model and routes –
including existing delivery vehicles, roles and responsibilities, risks, issues
and opportunities and on-going contract management. Opportunities to
maximise the positive social, economic, and environmental impact for the
Council through the relevant procurement processes will be developed in line
with procurement policy.
7. Risk Analysis
7.1 All Council new build projects have their own Risk Register which highlights
the risk within and out-with the project team’s control.  These are maintained
and adjusted on an on-going basis.
7.2 With any new build project there is a risk that as the projects develop the cost
increases beyond the estimated contract cost.  Any additional borrowing
requirements, or conversely, cost savings will be reported to future meetings
of the Housing and Communities Committee. However, this is mitigated
through a target cost model approach in our current contract arrangements
within the Scottish Procurement Alliance (SPA) framework and Scotland
Excel.

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8 Environmental Sustainability
8.1 The delivery of new homes is within the approved More Homes zero carbon
approach. Our current and future approach to strategic housing asset
management will continue to prioritise a ‘zero carbon’ approach to decision
making and deliverability and this will be done the aims of the Housing Asset
Management Strategy and the Council’s Climate Change Strategy.
9. Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA)
9.1 The proposal does not alter any existing policy or pattern of service delivery
and so is not considered to require an equalities impact assessment.
10. Consultation
10.1 As part of a rent consultation exercise, 92% of respondents indicated their
support for the Council’s ambitious plans to deliver the Housing Revenue
Account (HRA) new council house build programme. In addition, there was
positive support for the wider delivery of new build housing as part of the
recent Local Housing Strategy.  Regular updates on new build development
are provided to the West Dunbartonshire Tenants and Residents Organisation
at the bi-monthly liaison meetings.
11. Strategic Assessment
11.1 The Local Housing Strategy is the overarching document setting out the
strategic direction for housing across all tenures and informs the future
investment in housing and related services across West Dunbartonshire.
11.2 Having considered all the Council’s strategic priorities, this report, and the
provision of new supply social housing for rent contributes greatly to all the
Council’s strategic priorities.
Peter Barry
Chief Officer, Housing
Date: 6 August 2025
Person to Contact: John Kerr – Housing Development and Homelessness
Manager, Housing Development and Homelessness
Team, Housing and Employability, telephone:
07793717981, email: john.kerr@west-dunbarton.gov.uk
Mikayla Deeley, Senior Housing Development Officer,
Housing Development and Homelessness Team,
Housing and Employability: email mikayla.deeley@west-
dunbarton.gov.uk

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Appendices: None
Background Papers: West Dunbartonshire Council’s Local Housing Strategy
West Dunbartonshire Council’s Strategic Housing
Investment Plan
Local Housing Strategy, Health Inequalities Impact
Assessment
Wards Affected: All