PDE Column, 21st September 2009 – Williamsburgh Housing, A Busy Parliament, Diageo, Children’s Hearing Bill

A home for life…

A warm dry home is one of the essentials of life. So I was delighted to recently attend the opening of Williamsburgh Housing Association’s 30 new flats for rent along the banks of the Cart, minutes from Gilmour Street.  I also had a sneak preview of over 150 new homes in Linwood built by Sanctuary Housing.

These are great schemes but we urgently need many more of them. In April the Scottish Government received £45 million extra from the Treasury – Scotland’s share of new housing spend in the UK budget. Sadly, the Scottish Government did not allocate all this cash to housing.

In Renfrewshire the waiting list for new homes is over 9000. In the 5 years to April this year, 1041 brand new affordable rented homes were built by local housing associations. But in the next 5 years the target is only 560 new homes – half the level the previous Scottish Government financed. We need to be building more affordable rented homes, not less.

Local Housing Associations like Williamsburgh, Linstone and Paisley South do a good job – but they have been repeatedly messed around by changes to their funding arrangements – just at the time when it is harder than ever to raise money for house building.

For council tenants Renfrewshire Council has announced it plans to raise rents by a shocking 25% over the next five years.

One glimmer of light; belatedly the Scottish Government has finally agreed to improve protection for homeowners facing repossession. Well done to Renfrewshire Law Centre who has constantly made the case for this new legislation.

A busy Parliament

Parliament is now concentrating on the SNP Government’s legislative programme.

It has some welcome measures. Not least, the planned repossessions legislation and new action to tackle alcohol abuse. Labour have proposed a national mandatory “Challenge 21” scheme to stop booze getting into the hands of children and tougher sanctions for those who break the licensing laws.

But overall the legislative programme is a missed opportunity.  Missing completely are any measures to improve education or child protection. We need to act to stop new teachers being thrown on the scrap heap before their careers have properly started. In the last 2 years in Renfrewshire only 4 of 320 probationery teachers taken have got full-time, permanent jobs  with  the council.Too many are being left jobless, forced into waitressing in fast food outlets or earn a pittance as temporary care assistants. What a waste of their training and a tragedy for our children.

Nor were there any new measures to support victims of crime or to tackle knife crime or hospital superbugs. So I have signed up to support a backbench bill to improve protection for the victims of crime. 

A Diageo blow

I believe the Scottish Government’s top priority should be protecting and creating jobs as we weather the recession and plan for the future. So it is bad news that Diageo are pressing ahead with their Kilmarnock closure. I met recently with both Diageo and Chivas bosses to discuss their activities in Renfrew and Paisley and found them upbeat their Renfrewshire-based activities.

Children’s Hearing Bill abandoned

Finally I welcomed the dropping of the proposed Children’s Hearing Bill. The Children’s Hearing system is quite rightly seen as the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ in protecting our most vulnerable children. Reform may well be needed but certainly not in the incompetent way proposed. And the SNP Government have been sent off to think again. Meantime I am meeting with local Renfrewshire children’s panel members to canvas their views on the best way forward.