Published: Wednesday, 11th June, 2008 12:30
Cool councillor gets a bee in his bonnet
By Observer
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DUNFERMLINE councillor Willie Sullivan said something interesting recently, which is a bit odd for a politician.
The Labour man – known among some circles as a ‘cool councillor’ for his (relative) youth and sharp dress sense – has a bee in his bonnet about housing.
So much so, in fact, that he is opposing the building of any more new houses in Dunfermline’s eastern expansion (DEX).
He even went as far as saying that DEX was more a part of Edinburgh than our very own Bridie City on account of all the commuters.
Said Cool Willie, “The planning system seems to be development led. My overall concern is that it doesn’t seem to be about creating communities.
“It’s about making money and developing for the sake of development.”
The issue of housing is, rightfully, an important one. We all need a home, yet sadly we don’t all have one.
The communists of soviet Russia considered housing a necessity and built massive concrete blocks with each home distributed equal to need.
If you think some of our high-rise schemes are bad, take a look at Moscow’s – a true definition of concrete jungle.
But are its bland, almost scary, grey housing ‘units’ really any worse than in this country?
We allocate housing on who has the most money. If you find yourself down on your luck, for whatever reason, you are at the mercy of the state.
And often this means being stuck in a moldy, leaky and asbestos-ridden flat with junkies shooting up outside your door.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the tracks, developers are throwing up five-bedroom houses on any green space the council can’t afford to look after anymore.
The government agency Communities Scotland was set up with purpose of fostering vibrant communities through the provision of affordable homes.
Nice homes, reckons the Government, equals nice people. And nice people equals nice communities.
In theory, this sounds great. But, in practice, where is it?
Barely a single big development is built these days without a certain number of "affordable homes" being allocated.
Consider though, how many people are living in ridiculously bad council housing and try to match them up with new affordable homes being built.
Since each new project only has a small amount of them going, this means a lot more five-bedroom houses costing £500,000 plus are being built.
Added to that, for many people, affordable housing isn’t actually affordable.
When the Government says it wants affordable homes built it means homes available to graduates in their 20s who can only muster a few grand deposit.
A two-bedroom house going for just under £100,000 is considered affordable in this society.
For the single unemployed mother living in one of the council’s neglected housing estates, however, that’s not pocket change.
If affordable housing truly was affordable it would be open to all, rather than those who are lucky enough to have a good job.
We do already have shared ownership and other similar schemes but there is nowhere near enough being done to help people onto the property ladder.
Instead, it seems a growing proportion of folk are being forced into council houses that we wouldn’t expect our prisoners to live in.
So who’s to blame, or to be a bit more constructive, who can help?
Some may say the planners are the baddies in all this by allowing too many developments. Indeed, blaming planning officers would be the easy way out.
But the planners are only doing their job, they must judge applications according to the law and not what they think is best for the area.
In truth, it is an issue we must trust to our politicians (oh dear!).
While we have already seen an indication that the Government wants to move towards change, with the creation of Communities Scotland, there is a lot more to do.
Token gestures – such as reducing stamp duty – really don’t make much difference in the grand scheme of things.
It may sound cliche but housing really can be a powerful tool for creating a happy and healthy country.
All we need to do first, is get our priorities right.
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