A Highland councillor has made a passionate plea to the Scottish Government to ban any sales of council houses.
Northwest and central Sutherland SNP councillor George Farlow, who lives in a council house, made the call after a move by the council’s community services committee to sell a house in Inverness because of the extent of repairs that it needs.
The committee has agreed to buy a surplus Glencoe police house for £170,000 – minus a £50,000 government grant – and another at Balmoral Terrace in Inverness for £215,000 minus a £50,000 grant.
But the proposed sale of a rundown council house in the city’s Wells Street, pending ministerial approval, angered Mr Farlow.
He said: “If a tenant in Highland cannot buy a council house it’s illogical to me that the council is able to sell them. I would hope ministers overrule any council in Scotland that wishes to sell council houses.
“It seems ridiculous if we’ve got a huge waiting list why would we be selling a house? Why wouldn’t we be putting it right?”
“I have a registered interest, as a tenant myself. But we’ve lived in our council house for a long time and could have bought it – but didn’t because we don’t believe that we ‘own’ it. Such houses are owned by the people of the Highlands.”
Committee chairman Graham Mackenzie said there was “no one size fits all approach” to the issue and that, according to council officers, ward councillors had approved the Wells Street disposal.
Under housing legislation, the sale of local authority houses or flats requires approval of councillors and consent from Scottish Government ministers.
The council currently owns 13,500 homes and has 7,638 people on its waiting list. That compares with a peak of around 10,000 a decade ago.
The council launched an initiative last week aimed at engaging tenants. The “getting involved” strategy promises to give tenants a chance to influence decisions about housing policies, housing conditions and other related services.
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