THE leader of one of Scotland's biggest councils has promised to double a municipal house-building programme as his budget is supported across the political divide.
South Lanarkshire's veteran boss Eddie McAvoy said the authority was now committed to building 1000 council homes in the next five years.
Mr McAvoy's budget, his last after nearly two decades at the helm of the authority, was supported by 66 of South Lanarkshire's councillors. Only the Solidarity councillor opposed it.
Freezing council tax for another year, the departing Labour leader said his final budget left South Lanarkshire in "good financial standing".
It was endorsed by Mr McAvoy's Labour colleagues, the SNP, Lib Dems and Tories at a meeting on Thursday morning.
The budget will also see the council's living wage set at a minimum of £8.69-per-hour but rents increasing by two per cent.
Balancing the books will also see the council shed around 220 full-time equivalent posts, reduce overtime payments and cut payments to a number of third sector bodies.
Mr McAvoy said: "We have had to find £100m in efficiencies in recent years and this year we have had to find an extra £19m in efficiencies after the Scottish Government cut another £160m from Scotland's local services.
"The council should always lead in the fight against austerity but the only reason I have been able to take these positions on council tax and the living wage is because the council is well run and on a secure financial footing. South Lanarkshire has always been well run.
"It has been run efficiently and we have always looked for best value for the public money we are entrusted with."
Meanwhile, ahead of the setting of the budget at the country's biggest council, Glasgow's Greens have called for the additional £17m the city will receive following the Holyrood deal between the party and the SNP to be used to reverse a series of planned cuts by the Labour administration.
The party, which has four councillors in the city, said it wanted a U-turn on cuts to sheltered housing, school janitors and community safety schemes.
It is also proposing £200,000 is spent on new 'super-enforcer' wardens to deal with a raft of environmental and anti-social issues and £1.5m to pay for 75 new frontline 'street cleaners'.
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