Scotland's housing crisis: Labour blast SNP for lack of housing plan
During a sit-down interview with The Herald, Ms McAllan said she would introduce an "enhanced and expedited" plan to "step up" action to tackle the housing crisis in Scotland after the Scottish Parliament Summer recess.
The newly-appointed housing secretary was not yet able to reveal what those plans were.
Ms McAllan said: 'I can't tell you today exactly what my plan is, but I do intend to set out a plan as soon as I can with some enhanced and expedited action which will respond, as I see it, in an emergency fashion."
Scottish Labour's housing spokesperson, Mark Griffin MSP said, following the paper's recent interview, it appeared as though the SNP did not have a plan to address the crisis.
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Scotland's Housing Crisis: McAllan to deliver emergency plan
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Mr Griffin said: 'It is hugely concerning that despite the housing emergency being declared over a year ago, SNP ministers still do not appear to have any plan to tackle this crisis.
'It's clear that this SNP government is out of ideas and running out of time. After nearly two decades, we have 250,000 people on social housing waiting lists, and it is heart-breaking that over 10,000 children are stuck in temporary accommodation.
'A Scottish Labour government will turn the page on SNP failure and tackle the housing emergency once and for all by reforming planning, boosting housebuilding and delivering fair funding for local government and affordable housing.'
Speaking about a timeline for a plan from the Scottish Government, Ms McAllan said parliament would need to be back so that MSPs can scrutinise any proposals.
When asked if this plan will include more investment, the housing secretary said the capital position in Scotland is 'very difficult' at the moment.
The expected post-Scottish Parliamentary recess plan comes as house building numbers in Scotland are plummeting, with nearly 4,000 fewer homes in supply in 2023-24 compared to the year before.
Ms McAlllan said these figures are 'concerning' but insisted they do not present an 'unbridgeable gap'.
The cabinet secretary said: 'The stats that we have had on the all ten year builds, they showed an 11% decrease in starts, and a four per cent decrease in completions and that is of course the wrong direction, particularly when we have such high demands but it is not insurmountable.'
In 2021, the SNP set themselves a task to build 110,000 affordable homes by 2032.
Opposition parties and the outgoing chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Association have said they will fail to meet this target.
The cabinet secretary, however, said she believes they can meet this target and she intends not to rollback on it.
Ms McAllan said the 'core' of action to tackle house building would be the Affordable Housing Supply Programme which the government is investing £768 million this year.
The housing secretary said she is told this will translate into 8,000 affordable homes.
Other levers being explored by the Scottish Government to tackle the crisis include converting temporary homes to permanent ones, attempting to "unlock" stalled housing developments and hiring more empty homes officers.
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The Herald Scotland
38 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
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The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Thank you, UK, for coming to Scotland's rescue yet again
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Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Scottish railway stations with highest proportion of cancelled services revealed
The Scottish Liberal Democrats criticised SNP ministers over the figures Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Figures have revealed the railway stations in Scotland with the highest proportion of cancelled services. Helensburgh Central, Craigendoran and Cardross top the list, with more than one in 20 services cancelled in the last financial year. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad They are followed by Caldercruix (5.7 per cent of services cancelled), Blackridge (5.7 per cent), Armadale (5.7 per cent), Dumbarton East (5.6 per cent), Dalreoch (5.6 per cent), Drumgelloch (5.6 per cent) and Uphall (5.4 per cent). A ScotRail train | PA The Scottish Liberal Democrats, who highlighted the publicly available statistics, accused SNP minister of providing a 'masterclass in how to make public transport as unattractive as possible'. The party's Jamie Greene, who represents the West Scotland region, said: 'Passengers are shelling out huge sums of money to travel by train, only to find that some services simply don't arrive. For people here in the west of Scotland, that's a source of endless frustration. 'It's more than three years since the SNP government took over responsibility for Scotland's trains. In that time, they have clobbered passengers with ticket hikes and done next to nothing to minimise disruption or overcrowding.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Nationally, the worst month for rail service delays was October 2024, with just 45 per cent of services arriving within 59 seconds of their scheduled arrival time and 84 per cent arriving within four minutes and 59 seconds of their scheduled arrival time. Mark Ilderton, ScotRail's service delivery director, said it operates more than 2,100 services every day, with around nine out of ten of those meeting the punctuality target. He added: 'Cancellations can be for a number of reasons, many of them outside the control of ScotRail, but represented less than 3 per cent of more than 650,000 services we operate across the country over the course of the year. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We know how frustrating it is when a service is cancelled or delayed, and that is why everyone at ScotRail is working hard to deliver the safe and reliable railway that our customers expect and deserve, and to encourage more people to travel by train instead of using the car. 'With more than nine out of ten customers satisfied with our service according to Transport Focus, the independent watchdog for transport users, it's testament to the hard work of ScotRail staff in delivering a safe, reliable, and green railway.' A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'The cancellations for October-November 2024 represented 3.2 per cent of all ScotRail services. 'Train performance and passenger satisfaction in Scotland is consistently higher than the GB average – but we will keep making improvements, so more people choose to travel by rail. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'While our ability to invest and improve services is impacted by ongoing UK Government spending decisions, we have invested over £12 billion in rail infrastructure in Scotland since 2007 with a further £1.5 billion investment planned for this financial year. 'Fare increases are lower than elsewhere in the UK, and we're permanently removing ScotRail peak fares from 1 September 2025. This move will help people with ongoing cost of living pressures, eradicate child poverty and tackle the climate emergency by saving existing rail passengers money, including parents, and encouraging new, potential passengers onto the train and to leave the car at home.
