Aberdeenshire council’s ambitions to build more than 2,300 affordable homes, including nearly 2,000 homes for social rent, over the next five years have met with a positive response from the Scottish government.

The local authority hopes to invest £150m in the building programme, which it said could see a total of 2,354 homes built across the county, with 1,949 being allocated for social rent.

Nearly 600 of those would be suitable for households with what the council called “particular needs”, while a further 79 would be fully accessible for wheelchair users.