An additional£16.8m borrowing consent is being made available in the current financial year to Scottish local auth...
An additional £16.8m borrowing consent is being made available in the current financial year to Scottish local authorities whose housing programmes have been affected by the reduction in council house sales this year.
'I am also conscious that some authorities were drawing on their revenue reserves to maintain their capital programmes. The issuing of additional borrowing consents will free authorities to redirect those resources to deal with repairs arising from the recent spate of burst pipes.
Scottish housing minister Raymond Robertson announced the additional funding today when he met representatives of the housing committee of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to discuss housing subsidies.
He said: 'Resources of some £424m were made available to Scottish local authorities for investment in their own housing stock. Much of this investment is being directed at the priority areas of homelessness, community care, condensation and dampness and below tolerable standard housing.
'However, I have been aware that a significant number of authorities have been unable to carry out their planned programmes in full because they are facing a shortfall in the capital receipts they would otherwise expect to have received this year from council house sales. The secretary of state and I have decided that some assistance should be given to those authorities and we have been able to find an additional £16.8m of resources for distribution to those authorities most affected by receipt shortfalls.
'I have also announced today that the government will be providing some £19.3m of housing support grant to authorities next year. Of this sum around £3m is being given to assist with the running costs of hostels for the homeless.'
The minister also confirmed that due to a reduction in the local authority pool rate of interest, housing support grant in 1995-96 would be slightly reduced from £22.3m to £22m. Housing support grant is directed to those authorities which are unable to meet all their council housing costs from rental income.
-- Next year four authorities are expected to qualify for housing support grant for their mainstream council housing, namely Highland, Shetland, Western Isles and Aberdeenshire. A further 21 councils are expected to qualify for help with their hostels costs.
-- The distribution of the £16.8m supplementary allocations is as follows:
HOUSING CAPITAL ALLOCATIONS 1995-96
SUPPLEMENTARY ALLOCATION (M)
BORDERS
Ettrick & Lauderdale
0.150
CENTRAL
Falkirk
1.300
Stirling
0.200
DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY
Annandale & Eskdale
0.400
Stewartry
0.500
FIFE
North East Fife
0.450
GRAMPIAN
Banff & Buchan
0.700
Kincardine & Deeside
0.500
HIGHLAND
Lochaber
0.150
Sutherland
0.450
LOTHIAN
East Lothian
0.250
Edinburgh
1.400
Midlothian
0.250
West Lothian
0.800
STRATHCLYDE
Argyll & Bute
0.750
Bearsden & Milngavie
0.100
Clydebank
0.400
Cumbernauld & Kilsyth
0.070
Cumnock & Doon Valley
0.150
Cunninghame
0.500
East Kilbride
0.100
Glasgow
2.000
Hamilton
1.800
Monklands
0.450
Motherwell
0.550
Strathkelvin
0.350
TAYSIDE
Angus
0.300 Dundee
1.300
Perth & Kinross
0.400
ISLANDS AREAS
Western Isles
0.080.
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