Last week, the Scottish Government announced plans to allocate almost £20 million of funding for affordable homes to Highland Council over the next three years.
The Scottish Building Federation has welcomed the announcement but points to separate figures showing Highland Council invested a total of £129 million in housebuilding over the past four years. They say this investment has delivered more than 2,000 publicly funded new homes and provided an average annual budget of more than £32 million for affordable housing over that period.
By comparison, they point out that last week’s announcement will contribute less than £7 million annually to Highland Council’s affordable housing budget over the next three years. They argue this is a matter of serious concern for the local construction industry at a time when a growing number of firms are facing the threat of bankruptcy and industry jobs continue to be lost.
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The SBF is keen to understand what other provisions are being made to commit further resources towards delivering affordable housing in the Highlands between now and 2015.
Local representatives of the SBF will raise the issue when they meet Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary Alex Neil, Enterprise Minister and local MSP Fergus Ewing, and Local Government and Planning Minister Derek Mackay at a special Construction Summit taking place in Inverness today.
Scottish Building Federation Chief Executive Michael Levack commented: "The Highland construction sector continues to face extremely tough trading conditions. Last week, we saw the latest local casualty as UBC Group went into administration.
"Annual rates of private sector housebuilding in the Highlands have more than halved in the past five years. The public investment we’ve seen in affordable housing in recent years has helped to sustain many local construction firms through this difficult period.
"Of course we understand that budgets are tight and we welcome the efforts the Scottish Government has already made to commit additional funds for affordable housing. But the reality is that we still face steep cuts to the amount of money available. Meanwhile, more than 11,000 names remain on housing waiting lists in the Highland Council area."
Mr. Levack concluded: "The number of building firms going bust continues to rise and the industry remains braced for further job losses in the course of 2012. In that climate, we need reassurance that the Scottish Government is doing absolutely everything it possibly can to prioritise investment in the new housing our communities, our industry and the wider Highland economy desperately need."
(GK)
