Council house rents to increase

Council house rents in the Highlands are to increase by an average of £2.46-a-week.

Highland Council said the raise was needed to help meet the cost of a £13.2m upgrade of local authority housing in 2009/10.

The council said about £88m would need to be spent over the next six years to bring its stock up to national standards.

The work would include installing new kitchens and energy saving materials.