Scottish councils demand funding reassurances (Inside Housing)

Scotland’s councils are seeking an urgent meeting with communities minister
Malcolm Chisholm about changes in the way housing development funds are
distributed. Under current rules councils which transfer their homes to
community landlords expect to take control of development funds. But the
Scottish Executive is in the early stages of a review of housing investment
(Inside Housing, 29 October). It now wants a consultation group to consider a
new network of housing market area boards which would ‘allow local authorities
to play a strategic role in influencing investment decisions’. The consultation
group is to include the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the Scottish
Federation of Housing Associations, Communities Scotland and private sector
representative Homes for Scotland. COSLA housing spokesperson Douglas Reid told
Inside Housing that councils wanted reassurances from the minister that local
authorities would continue to have a strategic role in housing. ‘Personally
speaking, we hear a lot about the bonfire of the quangos, but now it seems new
quangos are on the way,’ he said. SFHA chief executive David Orr said the
organisation was not convinced that transferring management of development
funding to councils was the best option. ‘We are getting involved in the working
group to see what alternatives can be developed, and whether these can better
benefit our members,’ he said. The group is scheduled to meet today, finishing
its work by mid-December. Ministerial decisions will follow and detailed working
arrangements will be finalised between January and April 2005. A spokesperson
for Communities Scotland said all authorities ‘would be expected to take part in
any new strategic arrangements to ensure that housing investment decisions
nationally are made on a more strategic basis’.

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*Published: 05 November 2004*