A £20 million rescue deal for Torry residents living with legacy of crumbling concrete housing is being brought to a crunch meeting between campaigners and the SNP’s housing minister.
The potentially dangerous Raac material was discovered in 500 council and private homes in the Balnagask area last year.
Aberdeen City Council plans to demolish the affected properties by 2028 – despite an ongoing wrangle where some owners are refusing to sell.
Housing Minister Paul McLennan will finally meet campaigners in Torry on Friday for the first time since the crisis came to light.
They are fighting for fair compensation for their homes as they currently face losses of between £35,000 and £55,000 on average for the sale of their property.
The meeting will also be attended by North East Tory MSP Liam Kerr and local SNP MSP Audrey Nicoll.
At the meeting, Mr Kerr will suggest a rescue deal paid for by an unspent £20 million housing fund set up by the Scottish Government in 2016.
The fund formed part of additional infrastructure investment to Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire councils as part of the City Region Deal signed that year.
No Aberdeen or Aberdeenshire project has qualified under the Housing Infrastructure Fund criteria to date in the last nine years.
‘£20m which has yet to be touched’
Mr Kerr said: “There is a £20m which has yet to be touched because nothing in the north-east has qualified under this criteria.
“There is still a year to go for the City Deal, and I don’t see any other way, or crucially any better way, in which this can be spent.
“That money would top up the existing council offer to market value and go towards demolition, rebuilding and redeveloping the area which would otherwise be too expensive to do.”
However, Aberdeen City Council co-leader Christian Allard said it is for the UK Government to stump up the cash through a nationwide fund.
He said: “I would suggest to Mr Kerr that we do not use funding that has already been earmarked for Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Council.
“We want a UK-wide Raac fund to be created by the UK Government to provide financial assistance to those affected, and this needs to happen urgently.”
But the UK Government has no plans for a UK-wide response, claiming funds to managing Raac is for devolved administrations – such as Holyrood – and relevant local authorities.
The P&J last week launched its campaign to support Aberdeen homeowners Trapped by Raac.
It builds on our continuing work to highlight the plight of ordinary people facing ruin through no fault of their own.
What is the criteria for the fund?
The Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) enables funding for housing developments that have stalled or can’t proceed due to the excessive cost or nature of the infrastructure works to be delivered.
But loan funding was paused in 2021 due to budgetary constraints.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The purpose of this funding is for works to overcome infrastructure challenges to enable new affordable housing projects to go ahead. Funding allocation is dependent on proposals coming forward from the local authorities.
“Scottish Government housing officials have provided regular advice and guidance to both Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council.
“To date, no proposals which meet Housing Infrastructure Fund criteria have been forthcoming form either local authority.
“We continue to urge the UK Government to make additional funding available but to date they have refused to do so.”
Conversation