Comrie councillors call for dialogue on housing policy Sep 23 2011
Sep 23 2011 by Lynn Duke, Strathearn Herald
COMMUNITY councillors in Comrie have reached out to Perth and Kinross Council over its draft local housing strategy and its effect on the local community.
In a letter to PKC, the community officials raised the issue of “commuted sums in lieu of affordable housing” made by developers and their distribution.
The money is put in a central fund administered by the local authority to facilitate meeting the need for affordable housing in the whole of the Perth and Kinross area. However, Comrie Community Council has asked to know how much of that fund is garnered in the immediate local area.
Community councillors added that they would also like to be able to discuss options for the fund’s employment to tackle Comrie’s particular needs for affordable housing.
//'); //]]> In the letter, Comrie CC stated: “This might in some small way encourage local initiatives and give our community a sense of responsibility in addressing the issues.
“Such a move might chime with the spirit of localism we are encouraged to believe underlies much current strategic thinking.”
The letter also called for PKC to address the issue of local disadvantage as a result of current housing policy.
It continued: “Whilst Comrie appears a douce wee village to the eye we, as a [community] council, are acutely aware of the desperate local need for housing which is both affordable and addresses a wide spectrum of disadvantage.
“The strategy rightly focuses on the variety of disadvantage experienced by individuals and families but seems to miss out an assessment of the disadvantage often suffered by a community as a result of housing policy.
“For example, it is a great disadvantage to the community when farms lose young workers (often local sons and daughters who have lived here all their lives) who can see little prospect of securing social/ rented housing in the area.
“There seems no mechanism for weighting their housing request to address the community’s disadvantage at their departure.
“We feel that a better balance needs to be struck here both for the benefit of social cohesion and the perception of ‘social’ housing locally.”
COMMUNITY councillors in Comrie have reached out to Perth and Kinross Council over its draft local housing strategy and its effect on the local community.
In a letter to PKC, the community officials raised the issue of “commuted sums in lieu of affordable housing” made by developers and their distribution.
The money is put in a central fund administered by the local authority to facilitate meeting the need for affordable housing in the whole of the Perth and Kinross area. However, Comrie Community Council has asked to know how much of that fund is garnered in the immediate local area.
Community councillors added that they would also like to be able to discuss options for the fund’s employment to tackle Comrie’s particular needs for affordable housing.
//'); //]]> In the letter, Comrie CC stated: “This might in some small way encourage local initiatives and give our community a sense of responsibility in addressing the issues.
“Such a move might chime with the spirit of localism we are encouraged to believe underlies much current strategic thinking.”
The letter also called for PKC to address the issue of local disadvantage as a result of current housing policy.
It continued: “Whilst Comrie appears a douce wee village to the eye we, as a [community] council, are acutely aware of the desperate local need for housing which is both affordable and addresses a wide spectrum of disadvantage.
“The strategy rightly focuses on the variety of disadvantage experienced by individuals and families but seems to miss out an assessment of the disadvantage often suffered by a community as a result of housing policy.
“For example, it is a great disadvantage to the community when farms lose young workers (often local sons and daughters who have lived here all their lives) who can see little prospect of securing social/ rented housing in the area.
“There seems no mechanism for weighting their housing request to address the community’s disadvantage at their departure.
“We feel that a better balance needs to be struck here both for the benefit of social cohesion and the perception of ‘social’ housing locally.”