Quality houses are badly needed in Oban

Sir, Through your columns could I comment on your article on the new homes approved for Glenshellach in The Oban

Times (December 22). Could I first of all thank the 121 people who wrote letters of support for Argyll Community Housing Association’s (ACHA) planning application for six new homes. They stand side by side with those who desperately need housing in this town and the quality construction jobs that go with it.

I couldn’t help but notice an objector’s critique of ACHA’s homes as ‘low quality’. If the party concerned could contact me, I would be happy to show him or her the homes that the Reverend Dugald Cameron officially opened in Glenshellach last week. They are large, well-spaced, four-bedroom family homes. They are fitted with air-source heat pumps for energy efficiency, with kitchens you can sit down to a family meal in and additional utility rooms to meet the growing family’s needs. The gardens are also of such a substantial size to allow parents a space to play safely with young children.

At a personal level, I have been touched by the thanks and the goodwill expressed to me by the families that have moved in and they are delighted with their new homes. With the greatest respect, they are the most important parties in this equation.

As I said at the opening last week, ACHA’s work will not be done until we provide the homes that are needed for families in Oban and elsewhere who are living in insecure, inadequate and bad housing.

We look forward to continuing with that ambition in 2017. Alastair MacGregor, Chief executive, ACHA.