Purchase of homes ‘financial insanity’

FIFE Council has been accused of “financial insanity” in its bid to meet an affordable housing target.

SNP councillor David Alexander claimed officers had paid over the odds for new homes built by a private developer near Kennoway as they feared not meeting the target of creating 2,700 affordable homes in time.

That’s despite the fact there was room for the 11 houses on a council housing site nearby.

Mr Alexander said while the purchase at Bonnybank met local authority policy and was approved by the Scottish Government, the council had paid far more than necessary at a time of tight budgets and reduced public spending.

Fife Council’s head of housing John Mills said he had met Mr Alexander to discuss his concerns.

“The council has acknowledged there is additional capacity at the former Kennoway Primary School site and that this may be further developed in a future phase of council new builds over the next five years,” he said.

“In terms of Bonnybank, an opportunity arose for one of our housing partners to acquire houses from a private developer for use as housing association properties.”

Mr Mills said the commercial transaction was fully approved by the Scottish Government and the contribution from the council came from the use of second homes council tax funding.