Text box content

£2m scheme aims to address housing crisis

By Eric Nicolson - Dundee Courier Wednesday 21st September 2005

A £2 MILLION affordable homes development in Highland Perthshire will help to address the housing crisis in the area, a Scottish Executive minister declared yesterday.

Communities Minister Malcolm Chisholm yesterday visited the Oakwood Field development of 15 homes for ownership by people on low incomes at Little Ballinluig, near Grandtully.

The initiative is giving people on low incomes in the property hot-spot of rural Perthshire the chance to live in their own homes.

The homes are being built with support from Communities Scotland’s rural home ownership scheme, which helps people with grants towards the cost of a home.

Mr Chisholm said, “This is an excellent example of a local community coming up with its own bright idea and turning it to homes for people.

“On the day I am opening Homestake, our new shared-equity programme, for business, I am very pleased to see such an innovative development using another of the Executive’s support mechanisms.

“It allows people in rural areas to become home-owners and to stay and work locally, contributing fully to the life and economy of their communities.

“Here in this beautiful part of Perthshire it is difficult for individuals on low incomes to even think of buying a building plot. It has been prohibitive for people on low incomes. But this shows it can be done on a larger scale—using this grant scheme to provide 15 homes.

“Helping first-time buyers in rural areas is a key priority for the Executive. That is why our investment in affordable housing in rural areas is currently at a record high, reaching nearly £100 million this year.”

A small number of homes are still available for local people on low incomes who can satisfy the scheme’s criteria.

Oakwood Field is under construction by local developer Kepranich Developments.

The development consists of six detached three-bedroom houses, five detached two-bedroom houses and four semi-detached two-bedroom houses, all set in large garden plots with off-road parking.

The project’s total development cost of £1,805,000 is funded through rural home ownership grant support (normally around 33%) to approved individuals from Communities Scotland and with mortgages obtained by approved individuals.

Rural home ownership grants are mainly intended to help people living in rural areas of Scotland to become first time owners—usually by building a house, but also by buying a suitable property.

It is meant to fill the gap between the maximum level of mortgage the applicant can raise and the cost of a modest starter home.

Housing is being provided for residents of Mid Atholl, Strathtay and Grandtully who are eligible for rural home ownership grant assistance from Communities Scotland.

Tenants of local authority and housing associations and those on housing waiting lists are being targeted.

Local major employers have also been contacted and advised of the housing opportunities available to staff on low incomes.

Kepranich Developments obtained tenders from four contractors and Clachan Construction of Perth have been appointed main contractors.

To date, seven reservations have been made for the 15 available properties.