COUNCIL RENT INCREASES SCALED BACK

ALLAN WELCOMES COMMON-SENSE APPROACH

Peterhead councillor Anne Allan has welcomed the outcome of the budget vote at Aberdeenshire Council where councillors voted to hold back the annual inflationary rent increases due to the current economic climate.

Rents has been due to rise by the Retail Price Index (RPI) plus 2 per cent but this has been scaled back and will now mean a rise of 3.1 per cent.

Commenting, Councillor Allan said:

"Because of the current difficult economic climate the council have agreed to hold the RPI element back to 1% for this year, to help our tenants sustain their tenancies.

"Other charges are also being restricted to the 1%, such as garage rents.

"I am pleased that these increases have been scaled back and are not as high as the council administration had been planning. I think it is right that the council should be seeking to keep the pressure off its tenants at this time of financial uncertainty.

"The council have accepted the argument on council rents that these need to be scaled back. I am therefore only sorry that they did not listed to the same argument which the SNP made in relation to parking charges when we argued that the increases there should be deferred for the same economic reasons."