Housing Allocation Information

A short while ago, I worried about proposed changes to Council House Allocation Policy.

Part of the justification given for the charges is

"the reasons behind the proposed changes are primarily to ensure the Council makes best use of
its stock and to give applicants realistic housing options. If you look at the attached spreadsheet for Formartine it shows that out of the 24 settlement 5 have a stock of 3 or less houses; 9 had no turnover in 2010/2011 and a further 8 had turnover of only 1 or 2 houses. While allowing applicants to chose from 24 settlement may appear to offer choice, in reality it is misleading in that there is either no or very little turnover in many of these settlements."

But over 40% give the reason for refusal in Formartine as Not Area Desired.  Just how does forcing people to specify a larger area help this?

Reason
%
Garden unsuitable
1.3
Heating
2.6
No longer require housing
10.4
No reason given
1.3
No response within 5 working days
7.8
Not area desired
42.9
Not ready to move
18.2
Property type unsuitable
2.5
Property unsuitable
13.0



Wouldn't it be better to be honest with people about the (lack of) houses available across the area:

Formartine  1 bed 2 bed 3 bed 4 bed
AUCHEDLY 1
AUCHTERLESS 4
BALMEDIE 9 10 2
BARRAVALE 1
BEREFOLD 2
CAIRNHILL 5
COLLIESTON 3 1
CUMINESTOWN 11 21 14 1
DAVIOT 3 2 4
ELLON 134 92 51
FOVERAN 3
FYVIE 32 20 11
KINHARRACHIE 1
METHLICK 20 17 4
NEWBURGH 12 10 13
OLDMELDRUM 50 56 10 4
PITMEDDEN 14 25 22
POTTERTON 11 15
ROTHIENORMAN 24 25 8
TARVES 29 14 6 5
TIPPERTY 3 4
TURRIFF 99 130 66 2
UDNY GREEN 7 2 2
UDNY STATION 17 16 7

and ask them to pick enough areas where they would accept a house as possible, pointing out that the total turnover last year was only 82 houses against a waiting list of 951.

Or does the council think that prospective council house tenants are too stupid to figure out that where houses are in short supply, their odds of getting offered anything is close to snowball in hell - but that if they choose places with some stock, there is a better chance?

North East Scotalnd Credit Union - coming to Ellon?

While at the RGU Fresher's Fair with the Scottish Young Greens yesterday, I got into conversation with John McCrank of the North East Scotland Credit Union. They have early stage plans of expanding their operations into Ellon and we discussed a few possibilities for where they could set-up a couple of times each week.

So if there is anyone you would like to be a local volunteer in Ellon, please get in touch with John at johnmcc@nescu.co.uk

More cuts and more straightjackets for local government.

Today I was at a Scrutiny and Audit Committee meeting where it was clear that over £400,000 of this years budget cuts would not be achieved ... And because some of this was primary school closures with the saving in futures years being over £2 million next year and a further £1 million in subsequent years, the consequences for future years are significant. Apart from the lack of a robust educational case for the planned closures, the stopper was the Scottish Government deciding that no rural primaries would be allowed to close.

Now John Swinney is saying that councils will again not be allowed to raise council tax ...

With the Council Tax freeze, councillors were left to decide what to cut. When ministers decided that some areas for saving were off limits, they then directed the cuts to other areas. And now the cuts will continue deeper than ever.

When I first stood a friend said "remember, Debra, that councils really can only do what government tells them to do and then it is compulsory'. She was only a quarter joking - the freedom to do things for the benefit of the citizen has always been limited.

Now the room to manoeuvre is being limited for as much as the next 5 years.   It's not an attractive prospect for Councillors doing little more than decide where the axe shall fall.  Fred Macauley on Radio Scotland this morning joked that perhaps the current 32 councils should be merged into one.  If the Scottish Government does not increase the independence of councils both in terms of what they are allowed to do and how they raise the funds to do it, then maybe Fred is right.

Local Transport Strategy - consultation

Aberdeenshire Council is now consulting on the next version of the Local Transport Strategy.  The draft is better than the old strategy in that it at least thinks that walking and cycling is a transport option rather than a leisure activity but I am sure we can improve it further.

You can read the draft here.


If you wish to comment on the draft LTS, you can use the online survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/draftLTS or you can email details comments to ltsconsultation@aberdeenshire.gov.uk - or both!

The closing date for responding is 31 October 2011.

Empty Home

Housing standing empty for long periods are a problem and could make a contribution to the housing stock if they were brought back into use.  The first step is to know about them.
If you know of an empty home, please use Report Empty Homes.