Borders housing in crisis

Alexa Brown 1605 - 1605 • Published 11 May 2009 10:24 0 Comments

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A LOCAL MSP has slammed the current housing situation in the Borders, saying a lack of affordable homes is forcing young people out of the area and breaking up communities.

John Lamont, Conservative MSP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, made the claim after a new government report suggested more needed to be done to end the 'over cautious planning culture" in rural areas.

As well as the development of more affordable housing, Mr Lamont wants to see social landlords, including Councils, take into account local connections when deciding on housing applications and transfer requests.

He told the Border Telegraph: 'One of the issues raised with me time and again is the difficulties people in rural communities face when wanting to transfer to a house within their own community, only to find that they are so far down the housing list that this is impossible.

'The effect of this is to break up communities, to force young people from the communities that they have grown up in and, in the long run, to increase the average age of people living in more remote areas, which has an obvious impact on the provision of services to those communities.

'I am strongly of the view that if the government were to allow social landlords more scope to take into consideration local connections when deciding on housing applications and transfer requests, then this would be a very welcome step. It would help ensure that local people get access to local houses.'

Local councillor Nicholas Watson agreed that the government must step in to help local people who want to stay in the area.

He said: 'Housing in the rural Borders is a big problem, and its not just about people finding somewhere to live, it"s about keeping communities going as well. Discrimination laws make it very difficult for social landlords to choose tenants on the basis of local connections, so a move by government would be really helpful here.'

'Another problem in the Borders is that ugly development has made people anti-development. By raising design standards - a lot, not just

a bit but - we could actually encourage more good rural development. We are not short of land in the Borders.'

The Scottish Government said it plans to approve grants for a record breaking 8,100 affordable homes. The housing boost is backed by 644 million pounds from the Scottish Government's Affordable Housing Investment Programme.

A breakdown of planned housing approvals in all local authority areas has been published - including new homes in Galashiels and Peebles. The housing is expected to inject renewed confidence in Scotland's building industry as it copes with the economic recession.

Housing and Communities Minister Alex Neil said: "As part of the Scottish Government's economic recovery plan we are doing all we can to build more affordable homes, and breath new life into our economy.

"Record numbers of new affordable houses will help safeguard jobs, support the construction industry and keep the Scottish economy moving.

"Despite the pressures of a tight budget settlement from Westminster, we are pulling out all the stops by investing a record 1.5 billion pounds in housing over the next three years."

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