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North Ayrshire housing
15/05/2008
Right to Buy has been suspended in areas of North Ayrshire to prevent serious shortages of affordable housing.
Ministers have accepted North Ayrshire Council's request to apply 'pressured area' status to 11 letting areas.
This will allow the council to retain homes for rent to people on low incomes in areas facing social housing pressures aggravated by Right to Buy.
Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell said:
"North Ayrshire Council requested the suspension of Right to Buy to ease the substantial pressures facing affordable housing in the area.
"It is the ninth council to have successfully applied to use the pressured area mechanism and I would ask other councils to consider whether it could be used as a suitable response to particular pressures within their areas.
"The Scottish Government wishes to explore ways of achieving greater local flexibility in the operation of the Right to Buy. The pressured area mechanism is only one way of achieving this. We are also committed to introducing legislation to end the right to buy for new build social houses and our recent announcement of a £25 million incentive package will help to kick start a new generation of council house building in Scotland."
Councillor Tom Barr, executive member for the Environment at North Ayrshire Council, added:
"The Council is delighted that the Scottish Government has approved our application for pressured area status. The application is part of our overall Affordable Housing Framework which details our strategic vision for increasing and retaining affordable housing in North Ayrshire.
"The Council is committed to meeting the affordable housing need of local people and to eradicating homelessness. By supporting our application, the Scottish Government has contributed to this vision by allowing us to retain social housing in highly pressured areas."
Tenants within the designated areas will have the Right to Buy their rent council or housing association house suspended for five years:
Castlepark, Girdle Toll & Lawthorn (including Chapeltoun), Harbourside, Irvine East, Woodlands, Largs, Fairlie, Skelmorlie, West Kilbride, Dreghorn and Drybridge.
The suspension of Right to Buy only applies to tenancies which have commenced since September 30, 2002. An estimated 1,237 tenancies in North Ayrshire are affected.
Pressured area designations have now been approved in the following local authority areas:
- East Renfrewshire (Eastwood area) on October 7, 2005
- Highland (all areas excluding Caithness, Sutherland and some estates in Inverness and Fort William) on November 15, 2005
- South Ayrshire (29 letting areas comprising much of Prestwick and Ayr, and rural settlements) on February 10 2006
- Moray (Elgin, Lossiemouth and Forres rural) on March 7, 2006
- Fife (St Andrews and the East Neuk) on May 8, 2006 and (13 west Fife villages) on January 15, 2007
- Dumfries and Galloway (69 villages of population less than 400 across the local authority area) on June 5, 2006
- Perth and Kinross (21 letting areas across Highland Perthshire and in the rural areas around Perth) on February 2, 2007
- Aberdeen (35 letting areas across the city) on September 5, 2007
Right to Buy changed significantly when the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 reduced and capped discount levels, extended the qualifying period to five years and introduced the pressured area mechanism.