Housing Secretary Màiri McAllan has said Chancellor could ‘reinvigorate'
housebuilding in Scotland in tomorrow's Budget by reversing cuts
to the Scottish Government's capital funding.
Ms McAllan has made the call as she travels to London to meet
with key investors and stakeholders to showcase Scotland's
housing sector and encourage more investment.
Commenting, Ms McAllan said:
“We have created strong foundations in Scotland to ramp up
housebuilding through our Housing Emergency Action Plan, which
has committed up to £4.9 billion to a major delivery programme
which will deliver up to 36,000 homes.
“However, these plans could be hampered by the UK Government's
planned cuts to our capital funding and in a shortfall in
Financial Transactions, which are a vital tool in delivering
homes across Scotland. Plus, she could write-off local authority
Housing Revenue Account debt to encourage more investment in
housing.
“Whilst in London I will be demonstrating my ambition to bring
more investment to Scotland and increase housing supply. I urge
the Chancellor to show the same ambition and reinvigorate
housebuilding across the UK, with significant benefits to the
sector in Scotland.”
Background
The recent UK Spending Review showed that there will be a 1.1%
reduction in real terms in the Scottish Government's capital
block grant between 2025-26 and 2029-30.
Financial Transactions are a key source of funding for the
Affordable Housing Supply Programme.
