This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Banking on affordable housing
25/02/2005
A special land bank fund for future affordable housing
needs in the Highlands is to be set up.
More than £3 million will be provided through
Communities Scotland to buy land, while Highland Council
will contribute land and match investment to be raised from
the discount on second and holiday home council tax.
The package will help ease future housing pressures on
rural communities, Communities Minister Malcolm Chisholm
said today ahead of the Rural Housing Service conference in
Dunkeld.
Mr Chisholm said:
"Scotland has a diverse landscape and rural Scotland has
distinct housing needs. The provision of affordable housing
is a key issue for the sustainability of all our rural
communities.
"Land supply is a major part of this, and it can
certainly be frustrating when there is evidently a
willingness to build, often with new and innovative
designs, and yet there is sometimes little or no land
available in the desired location.
"This partnership between Communities Scotland and
Highland Council will be used to acquire sites for
affordable housing for rent and for ownership. These sites
will then be sold on to housing associations, individuals
and the private sector, and the income received will be
re-invested in further site purchases.
"This new scheme will secure sites where land which
could potentially be developed is at a premium and it will
deliver a steady flow of sites for development through a
facility which is financially self-sustaining after the
initial start up costs. It will be interesting to follow
the progress of this creative new initiative.
"The scheme developed out of the work of the Rural
Partnership for Change which identified that little land
came on to the market in Highland, other than large estates
or whole farm units, and that the development of affordable
housing was highly dependent on the outcome of negotiation
with landowners.
"The Partnership piloted a version of the scheme and
this showed that such an approach could speed up the
development process through actively seeking development
sites through negotiation with owners.
Councillor Margaret Davidson, Chair of Highland's
Housing and Social Work Committee, said:
"I welcome the Ministers announcement for the first
tranche of funding for the Councils land banking fund. We
are committed to match funding from the Scottish Executive
in order to land bank strategic sites, unlock their
constraints and develop more affordable homes in the
Highlands.
"A recyclable fund of £10 million built up over the next
couple of years will significantly increase our ability to
secure potential sites and increase the delivery of new
affordable housing.
Mr Chisholm added:
"There is record investment in place and this innovative
partnership is just one example of ensuring our housing
policies meet the challenges rural Scotland faces.
"We are taking action and providing considerable
investment to expand rural housing. £88 million is being
spent this financial year, funding over 1,400 new
affordable homes, and our investment in Rural Home
Ownership Grants this year has almost doubled to £2.6
million.
"Our recently published planning policy for rural
development sets out a clear vision for rural Scotland,
emphasising the need for sensitively sited and well
designed and good quality housing, and we will continue to
support the delivery of improved housing for rural
areas."
Land banking is the process where land is bought up by a
developer and set aside (or banked) for future development
opportunities.
The Executive's Affordable Housing Review involved a
study by Communities Scotland into Registered Social
Landlord (RSL) land holdings and constraints on land
acquisitions.
This showed the extent of RSL landholdings in each of
the 32 local authorities and trends over the period since
1998. It identified constraints on the acquisition and
subsequent development of sites for affordable rented
housing. It will be used to inform future land banking
strategy for RSLs.
Funding for site acquisition is part of a rolling
programme for Communities Scotland. An additional £8.4
million sterling pound was put towards accelerating
targeted land acquisitions in other fast growing areas in
Scotland in July 2004 - this includes in Aberdeenshire,
Perthshire, Fife, Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire, Argyll
& Bute and East Renfrewshire.
he Rural Partnership for Change (RPfC) is a Scottish
Executive initiative, established in March 2000, looked at
ways of improving the delivery of affordable housing in
rural Scotland, and focussed on the Highland Council
area.
RPfC last reported to the Minister for Communities in
July 2003, when it secured an extension to its timeframe
from 2003 to 2005.