New homes for social rent are set to be built in Barrhead after councillors gave the green light to a plan to hand over land to a housing association.

Barrhead Housing Association will develop the site where the Auchenback Community Centre used to stand. It is believed there is space for four to six accessible flats.

Cabinet members at East Renfrewshire Council, which owns the Blackburn Square land, have agreed to dispose of it at “nil value” to allow the housing proposal to proceed.

The council’s housing convener, Cllr Danny Devlin, said the plan would deliver “much-needed” homes in East Renfrewshire.

“I feel the housing department should be doing more joint working with local housing providers and hopefully this is the first of many,” he added.

Council leader Owen O’Donnell, Labour, said the proposal is “very exciting” and “really good to see”. Officials described the plan as an “exemplar for sustainable social housing”.

The site, reported to be worth around £60,000 on the open market, is between 6 and 8 Blackburn Square and 18 Blackburn Square, and was “cleared and levelled over 10 years ago”.

A report to the cabinet states the land “can reasonably accommodate four to six units of affordable (social rented) housing”, which would be designed to “meet enhanced wheelchair or accessible housing standards, comprising lift access”.

It adds that research has previously found there is “unmet need” for accessible homes, particularly among affordable housing.

Officials stated “significant increases” in homelessness and housing waiting list numbers since 2019 have “amplified” long-term pressures for “affordable homes to meet local needs”.

Developed by the housing association alongside the council and the area’s health and social care partnership (HSCP), the scheme aims to “pilot new technology that will reduce carbon emissions and fuel poverty”.

The report adds: “The vital learning from this pilot project will be used to inform future social housing developments, aids and adaptations provision and carbon reduction projects.”

Disposing of the site at nil value was proposed as officials believe the project will “bring key community and social benefits”. These include the “critical need for more affordable housing” and developing “sustainable communities”.

Tenants will be identified with the help of partners, including the HSCP, and are set to be those “in most need” who will “benefit significantly from the housing model on offer”.