Plans to invest NHS charity cash in homes for key workers have been abandoned – amid confusion over who would quality to live in them.
NHS Grampian’s endowment committee was poised to buy properties at a development on the former site of Craiginches prison.
It was seen as a good investment, as well as a means to guarantee accommodation to help ease a serious shortage of medical staff.
But the group has now pulled the plug, claiming the qualifying salary cap turned out to be half what they had been told by Aberdeen City Council.
Charity chiefs said they made the plans on the understanding that a couple who each earned up to £40,000 would be able to move in.
Instead they said they were surprised to be told by the local authority that the cap applied to the whole household’s income.
“Despite considerable and prolonged discussion, Aberdeen City Council was unwilling to be flexible,” committee minutes report.
The “clarified” salary limit would rule out “the health service employees the committee wished to attract”, they said.
But the committee also noted a fall in rents and house prices in the Granite City had made property a less attractive investment.
The council insisted that the limit had been “mutually agreed” with partners including NHS Grampian.
NHS Grampian maintains that housing remains a significant barrier to solving major staff shortages.
Average rents for a one-bedroom flat dropped more than 15% last year however, saving tenants more than £100 a month.
Endowment committee chairman Raymond Bisset was recorded as being “particularly disappointed to note the restrictions”.
“If this had been made clear it is unlikely the original decision for this investment would have been made,” he agreed.
A city council spokeswoman said: “The £40,000 cap was set as part of an agreement between, Scottish Government, Aberdeen City Council, NHS Grampian and Sanctuary Housing.
“The figure was mutually agreed to ensure that those workers with the greatest need for affordable housing could be identified, and that the housing could be allocated appropriately.”
It is understood that the decision will have no impact on the construction of the planned 124 affordable homes at the ex-jail site.
Work on the development, in the Torry area, began in September.
