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Building Regulations and Accreditation
News Release from: Forestry Commission
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 21 April 2004
Lochaber Forestry Land To Host
Affordable Housing
Public land managed by Forestry Commission Scotland near Fort William has been sold to a local housing association that plans to build 16 affordable homes on it.
The land comprises 13 hectares (32.5 acres) of mown pasture at Inchree, Onich, about 8 miles south of Fort William It has been sold to the Lochaber Housing Association under a preferential "sponsorship" scheme
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 23 Jun 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Under the scheme, local community groups and registered social landlords, with the support of the Executive's housing and regeneration agency, Communities Scotland, may acquire national forest land that is for sale when Ministers are satisfied that their acquisition of the land is in the public interest, without the land being offered for sale on the open market.
Announcing the sale, Forestry Minister Allan Wilson said, "Many people in rural areas find it difficult to acquire homes because of the cost, and we are keen to explore and develop ways of making access to affordable housing easier for them.
"One way is to look at what public land in areas of high housing demand could be made available for affordable housing projects by registered social landlords.
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"One manager of public land is Forestry Commission Scotland.
As a significant employer in many rural areas, the Commission is well aware of these issues, and I am delighted that it has identified this piece of ground as one that it can release for housing, because there is a real need in the Fort William area.
"I am also pleased to hear that the Lochaber Housing Association and Communities Scotland will be looking at ways they can maximise the sustainability of the new houses, including the possible use of Scottish wood, which would be good news for Scotland's forestry and timber industries and for employment in rural areas." Deputy Communities Minister Mary Mulligan added: "The Executive is committed to increasing the availability of affordable housing in rural areas, and only last month announced a budget of £65 million for rural housing, the highest ever proportion of our housing programme.
This includes £17.7 million for the Highlands and Islands, their largest ever allocation.
"The high cost of land and its availability in rural areas is one of the major hurdles we have to tackle to build affordable housing.
This sponsorship scheme is a very good example of how agencies can work together to achieve this.
"Communities Scotland has contributed more than £130,000 towards this project at this stage, and further funding will be made available for house construction, which will allow 16 families to live in warm, high-quality homes.
It will also ease some of the housing pressure in the Lochaber area, where there is significant need." Welcoming the acquisition, Lochaber Housing Association director Jim Dickson said, "Everyone knows about the particular problems of providing affordable housing in rural communities and, inevitably, accessing suitable development land is the key to these developments.
"This acquisition opens a way for the Association to work with partner agencies, not only to make an impact on local housing need, but also to explore with a local community group opportunities for innovative construction methods to achieve maximum sustainability.
In short, it is a great opportunity.".
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