Harris test case highlights rural housing challenge
However, the struggle to gain approval has raised questions about whether current funding rules under the Scottish Government’s Strategic Housing Investment Plan are sufficiently flexible to allow widespread application in rural and island areas.
Leverburgh had become a test case for the Scottish Government’s commitment to housing in areas most seriously affected by depopulation. A statement from Hebridean Housing Partnership made clear the exceptional nature of the package finally put together.
This even involves dipping into ward allocations to Harris councillors from the Crown Estate community fund to find the last £34,500 required to make the Leverburgh sums add up.
HHP said: “A number of changes enabled us to finally reach a position where a tender has been accepted and work will start once building warrants are obtained which should be this summer.
“The mix has changed from ten rented and two shared equity homes to 12 rented resulting in a higher level of Scottish Government grant. The projects in the Comhairle’s Strategic Housing Investment Plan will be changed to move two houses from a Stornoway project to Leverburgh” In addition, “the contractor’s price has been reduced”.
HHP’s statement added: “The local Councillors have used some of their Ward funding to assist with the funding gap and get the project over the line” and “the Comhairle will also provide rent guarantee protection in support of the development. This is a contingency, and our hope is it will not be required”.
Gordon Macleod, chair of HHP said: “This has not been an easy project to get over the line, but I am pleased that at the end of an enormous amount of hard work on the part of many, we will now be able to cut the turf in Leverburgh and see 12 new homes completed in the next 18 months or so.
“I would particularly like to thank the Scottish Government for their support not just financially, but the time they have invested; the Comhairle for assisting with the funding gap and contractor Alex Murray Construction for identifying suitable reductions”.
The chair of South Harris Community Council, Donnie Macdonald, said the importance of the outcome to south Harris could not be overstated. “We hope this is the turning of a corner and it will be possible for young families to find homes and work in their own community, instead of heading for the mainland”.
Mr Macdonald said the outcome justified the community’s determination to hold out for 12 houses on the site close to Leverburgh pier, rather than accept the six on offer from HHP. However, he said the difficulty in putting a package together raised questions about whether current rules recognised the challenges involved in rural areas.
The owner of the land, Mark Miller Mundy, welcomed the outcome “even if it’s taken four years”. He had raised the stakes by placing an advertisement in the Gazette offering the land for sale – a move intended to apply leverage, which appeared to be effective.
South Harris Community Council then sent an open letter to the Scottish Government asking: “If this project does not happen due to being deemed too costly, what precedent does that set for rural housing in other needy areas in the Western Isles or indeed wider rural Scotland?.
It continued: “In simple terms, our ability to survive our current position and be able to provide homes for the generations to come is dependent on urgent approval from the Scottish Government”.
Amidst the general welcome, there was surprise that it had been necessary to raid about one-third of the allocation to Harris from the Crown Estate which would normally go to local voluntary organisations and small projects.
Cllr Donald Crichton, chair of the Comhairle’s Sustainable Development Committee, said: “In recent years we have seen significant private investment into Harris which has brought jobs and encouraged many to return to or remain. For these positive benefits to continue it is important that affordable housing is made available.”