The number of council houses in East Ayrshire that have been identified as having ‘concerns’ over their condition is on the rise, a report has revealed.

In 2023 there are 2050 ‘amber’ homes - 17.2 per cent of the total stock - in East Ayrshire that are identified as having ‘an element of concern’ but don’t fall into the more serious ‘red’ category.

That's up from figures of 987 (8.3 per cent) in 2020, 1,339 in 2021 and 1,486 last year.

However, a senior housing officer at East Ayrshire Council (EAC) says the figures overall don't give major cause for concern.

Over the same period, the number of homes that fall into the ‘red' category, defined as properties that have been identified as being ’cause for concern’ with regard to sustainability, has remained relatively stable.

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In 2020 there were 250 homes with red status, making up 2.1 per cent of the total housing stock.

That fell to 203 (1.7 per cent) in 2022 before rising to 244 (2 per cent) in 2023.

The vast majority of East Ayrshire Council’s housing sits in the green bracket, which covers properties performing well with little or no concerns.

In that category there has a drop of almost 10 per cent since 2020. In 2020 there were 10,164 homes with green status (89.6 per cent of the stock).

By 2023 this had dropped to 9,646 (80.8 per cent).

Again, the largest drop came between 2022 and 2023, with a five per cent decrease.

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In a report to East Ayrshire Council’s cabinet, housing improvement manager Gary Craig gave a longer overview of the condition of housing, admitting to councillors that the last year had been ‘incredibly challenging".

However, Mr Craig added that, overall, there were no major concerns in the numbers.

“Over the past seven years, the stock categorised as 'red' has decreased from 680 in 2016 to 244 in 2023," he told councillors.

“Throughout the past year, a number of properties assessed as green in 2022 have migrated to an amber status and there has been a small increase in properties identified as red status.

“The primary reason for these changes is with regard to the estimated remaining life of main components.

“Elements moving from green to amber do not present an immediate cause for concern, but require to be reviewed and included in improvement programmes where appropriate.

“Properties identified as red status continue to be addressed through the cross service review.”