19 May 2009
Rhoda Grant, Highlands and Islands regional Labour MSP has hit out at the Scottish Government’s lack action over affordable housing.
It comes as the latest figures released claim record levels of investment in affordable housing for local authorities.
Mrs Grant said: “Scotland’s rural communities are the areas who are in most need for affordable housing. The Scottish Government’s announced they planned to build 8100 new,
affordable homes which they are calling record investment.”
“But since the SNP Government came to power, the actual number of homes built has fallen.”
“Michael Levack, the Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Federation highlighted the massive cuts that are falling in rural areas, who are in the greatest need of affordable housing.
“In Argyll and Bute, 78 home have been given the green light for next year, which is a 50% drop on last year’s figures.
Mrs Grant added: “Only last week, the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs and Environment Committee noted the need for more money to invested in building works. The Scottish Government cannot sugar coat these figures. The cuts across the country are huge, and now is the time for more projects in rural areas to be funded and not withdrawn.”
“But looking at the detail, it seems that many of Scotland’s rural communities, where the shortage of affordable housing is often at its most acute, will lose out.
“Overall, planned approvals for affordable housing in rural Scotland will actually be marginally down compared to last year, with big drops in the number of units in many rural areas including Shetland (down more than half), Perth and Kinross (down 55%), South Ayrshire (down a third) and Argyll and Bute (down almost 40%).
“This follows a report last week from the Scottish Parliament’s rural affairs and environment committee, which underlined the critical need for many more houses to be built in rural Scotland over the coming years.
“I give the Scottish Government full recognition for the priority they’ve given to maintaining investment in affordable housing through the current economic downturn
“But if we’re serious about sustaining our rural communities through that downturn and beyond, the number of affordable houses we build in rural areas needs to not go down but significantly up.”
