Councillors 'won't accept' South and West Fife housing plan

The South and West Fife area committee agreed an amendment to refuse the proposals for 2024-25 and called for a greater range of solutions.

It came from Cllr Brian Goodall, the SNP's housing spokesperson, and read: "At this point as a committee we won't accept the area housing plan as presented and request that it goes back to officers to explore the opportunity to deliver more new homes, including new-builds and increasing the number of acquisitions from the open market."

As at July 1 there were 1,434 people on the waiting list for a home in South and West Fife.

In the last year there were four properties bought from the open market and Cllr Goodall argued there should be more, saying it was the "cheapest and quickest way" to provide more affordable homes.

He also said the "high demand" for properties in the committee area - which includes Rosyth, Inverkeithing, Dalgety Bay, Aberdour and the West Fife villages - meant more council homes should be built here.

Rosyth councillor Brian Goodall. (Image: Fife Council) READ MORE: Fife Council regularly 'outbid' on homes in Dunfermline

He said: "There were 3,236 properties in this area that were lost due to the Right to Buy, certainly lost as affordable housing, and when you compare that to the steps to try and deliver new housing, there were only four buy-backs.

"I worked that out to be 0.12 per cent of the homes lost that have been bought back which is really not good enough.

"We need to do more. Even if we include the 128 new-builds that's only four per cent of what was lost."

In the last financial year 125 properties were allocated to those waiting for a home: 64 to homeless applicants, 35 to transfers and 26 from the general housing list.

The area housing manager, Claire McKinlay, said: "The area housing plan (for 2024-25) highlights that basically there are more people looking for housing in South and West Fife than we have available, which is the case throughout Fife."

She said the disparity between supply and demand is felt "more acutely" in this area, partly due to low turnover of stock.

There are 1,961 council homes in the South and West Fife area, 128 have been built since 2017.

There are another 108 properties in progress or going through the planning stage and Kingdom Housing Association are set to deliver another 22 homes for mid-market rent in the next stage of the Fraser Avenue regeneration in Inverkeithing.

READ MORE: Development of 19 new homes in West Fife village was 'blocked by the MoD'

Ms McKinlay said there was a lack of one-bedroom homes, a "high demand" for larger family homes for four or more bedrooms and a lack of specific needs and wheelchair accessible properties.

Labour councillor Patrick Browne said: "We all need affordable housing and we want to see more of it, but it doesn't help when the Scottish Government cut the affordable housing budget by 26 per cent."

He pointed out that officers have been authorised to buy back up to 50 properties.

Committee convener, SNP councillor David Barratt, said: "There were 3,236 council houses that were sold off and clearly we've not bought back nearly enough of them.

"We need more large family homes and the solution seems to be we'll ask them when housebuilders are building.

"In terms of high demand for smaller properties, again the actions seems to be about allocation, at no point does the action seem to be 'let's buy some'.

"Because there are former council properties that would be available."