Renfrewshire Council is to look at whether more needs to be done to identify lead piping in privately rented homes as part of an ongoing review.
The issue was discussed at a meeting of the council’s Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Board as councillors received an update on a review of lead piping in public and private housing across Renfrewshire.
Rachael Flanagan, lead officer for the review, told councillors that work so far had examined the legal framework and strategies available to identify and replace lead piping.
She has also liaised with Scottish Water and the council’s Environmental Health Service as part of the review.
The current report focuses on public water supplies to privately owned housing and private water supplies.
A further report will look at public sector housing and grants which are available.
Councillor Gillian Graham asked whether vulnerable residents, including families with young children or pregnant women, were being prioritised when samples were taken.
Ms Flanagan said sampling was carried out by Scottish Water.
She said: “It assesses risk based on the risk of the lead and does not include the residents, and random samples are taken.”
Councillor Graham also asked how the council would check whether private landlords were complying.
Ms Flanagan told the board: “We do dip sampling and random checks of landlords at the moment. It does not include lead sampling, so I will look into that when I look at my recommendations.”
Councillor Andy Doig, convener of the board, also highlighted the potential issue with older tenement properties.
He said: “The point is that a lot of the older tenemental properties, because of their age, might be more likely to have lead piping.
“That is where the challenge lies.”
Earlier in the discussion, Councillor Doig also raised the lack of grants from Scottish Water for householders upgrading lead piping.
He said: “I thought it was a shame that Scottish Water does not offer grants for householders in upgrading lead piping. That is something that needs to be looked at by the board.”
The review is continuing, with further work to examine public sector housing and available grants before its final conclusions are reached.