Squeeze on housing land hinders Highland growth
A SUBSTANTIAL reduction in the amount of land available for housing has raised concerns that communities across the Highlands have little scope to grow.
Despite a housing shortage, the Highland Council has 40 per cent less land for new houses at its disposal than previously allocated.
The information came to light at West Highland and Islands Local Development Plan ( WestPlan) information events. More than 25 people attended the Glencoe and Glen Etive community council meeting on the matter.
Chairman Alister Sutherland said: ‘There is a real need for low- cost housing in the area to allow the children currently living here to continue living and working here in the future. The majority attended to understand how the area could be developed. It would seem Glen Coe, for one, cannot grow to any decent extent. Our expectations will certainly have to be curtailed.’
Tim Stott, principal planner with the Highland Council, offered his expertise at the events and explained the new housing allocation had stemmed from a report compiled by civil servants in Edinburgh. He also revealed it makes the selection process more complicated but said: ‘The three main factors affecting the percentage of land to be made available are: how many people on the housing waiting list are allowed to be allocated a new-build, the fact net inward migration has not been as large as previously forecast in 2010 and household size has not changed in line with previous forecasts. It does mean we have to be more fussy when deciding which areas are appropriate and which are not.’
Councillor Brian Murphy commented on the figure during the Fort William Round Table meeting at Lochaber House, highlighting his concern that on one hand government bodies are pushing for more housing but on the other they are limiting the amount of land available.
Twenty five events have taken place in this latest stage of the WestPlan process. While the events were aimed at discussing the ‘Main Issues Report’, Mr Stott reminded everyone that any comments, complaints or queries have to be submitted to the council in writing before June 10 to be taken further.
He said: ‘ We can’t act on any suggestion which has not been put in writing. The suggestions received will be considered and we hope to move onto the next stage around the turn of the year.’
Mr Stott added: ‘ The response has been good – the majority of people attending the events have been the neighbours of potential development sites which are marked on the map and that is mainly due to the fact the council write to them directly. But there has been a lot of discussion about wider topics such as a Caol link road.’
Visit www.highland.gov.uk for more details on the plan.