Dave Thompson MSP

£120m housing plans announced

Responding to the announcement by First Minister Alex Salmond of a £120 million investment to provide more than 1,000 new council houses and almost 2,000 jobs across Scotland, Highlands and Islands MSP Dave Thompson said this contrasted with the achievements of the last Scottish Executive.

He noted that during the previous Labour / Lib Dem administration at Holyrood just six new council houses had been built, all in Shetland.

Today's announcement builds on last year’s initial two rounds of ‘kick-start’ funding which has enabled work to start on the creation of 2,300 new council houses.

Mr Thompson hailed the announcement as evidence that the Scottish Government was finding ways to kick start the country's construction sector despite the current harsh economic climate and to protect thousands of jobs across Scotland.

"This announcement takes the total number of new council houses created by the Scottish Government in the Highlands and Islands beyond 200," said Mr Thompson. "Contrast that with the feeble efforts of the previous Labour / Liberal Executive who managed to build just six in the whole of Scotland during their four year term.

"Once again we are seeing clear evidence of the SNP Government delivering for the benefit of Scotland despite Britain's current economic troubles.

"I am particularly pleased to see that following initial problems with their application for the first two rounds of funding, Shetland Islands Council has been supported to help the creation of 20 new homes in Lerwick after my office took a close interest in their strong case for investment.

"However the good news is spread much wider than this and now we know that this announcement will mean much-needed new investment in communities across the Highlands and Islands."

He added: "Already we have provided almost £50 million through the first two phases of this important house building programme, allowing work to begin on almost 2,300 new affordable council houses.

"In the Highland Council area this has led to the commencement of work on more than 50 new homes. This latest announcement of funding for the third stage of the programme will allow work to begin on 55 more.

"In Orkney today's announcement will help work to begin on 10 new homes in Finstown while the 55 in the Highland Council area will be in Inverness, Invergordon, Fort William, Strathpeffer, Portree and Kingussie."

Note:

Today’s Round 3 announcement takes to £80 million the amount of Scottish Government funding to incentivise council house building.  Local authorities were invited to apply for funding for specific council housing projects and the individual allocations announced today were agreed by the Scottish Government and Convention of Scottish Local Authorities based on criteria including housing need, affordability and the readiness of councils to take forward projects in the near future.