– in the Scottish Parliament at on 23 March 2016.
1. To ask the Scottish Government how it will increase affordable housing supply in East Kilbride. (S4O-05696)
The Scottish Government works closely with housing providers throughout South Lanarkshire to increase the supply of affordable housing. In East Kilbride, 238 new affordable homes were built between 2011-12 and 2014-15. We expect to see a further 72 new homes completed in the town by 31 March 2016, another 191 new homes are currently on site and due to complete by 31 March 2017, and land has recently been acquired by a housing association with a Scottish Government grant to provide a further 34 new affordable homes.
The minister will be aware that East Kilbride suffers from a particularly acute social housing shortage. In some measure, that is because of the aggressive right-to-buy policy that was applied when it was a new town. The current Government’s record on affordable housing is certainly beyond that of the previous Administration.
Will the minister confirm that, if the current Government is returned after the election, particular discussion will take place about East Kilbride’s social housing provision?
If it is re-elected, the Government will certainly be willing to discuss with the member and South Lanarkshire Council their plans for affordable housing in East Kilbride. We have increased the resource planning assumption for South Lanarkshire from £10.16 million in 2015-16 to £16.938 million in 2016-17. That is a 66 per cent increase in committed funding in spite of the constraints of the United Kingdom budget cuts.