Government doles out £17m build fund
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The Scottish Government has announced the first councils to get a share of the £25 million it has pledged to help them build homes.
The government has allocated nearly £17 million to help 14 councils provide more than 970 affordable homes.
The Lothians in south east Scotland are the biggest winners from the pot so far - allocations of £2.62 million and £2.48 million are going to East and West Lothian councils for the building of 105 and 248 homes respectively.
Midlothian is getting £2.52 million for 252 homes and Moray and North Lanarkshire are getting £1 million each, both for 40 homes. Eight other councils are receiving between £450,000 and £875,000 to build between 18 and 35 homes. But the news was a big blow to Edinburgh Council, which had hoped to get its hands on £10 million of the cash to help fund a plan for 1,300 new homes. Instead it received £1.67 million for just 67 homes.
Housing convenor Paul Edie said the council’s allocation would force it to scale down the number of affordable rented homes it plans and was a ‘real slap in the face’.
| COUNCIL | AMOUNT RECEIVED | NUMBER OF HOMES DUE |
| East Lothian | £2.6m | 105 |
| Midlothian | £2.52m | 252 |
| West Lothian | £2.48m | 248 |
| Edinburgh | £1.67m | 67 |
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