Ardfern stalled on affordable housing at The Glebe
Lynda published this on 4:15 pm, Tuesday, 3rd June, 2008Community News | Comments (rss) | Respond | Ping |
The Ardfern community had hoped that Fyne Homes would be able to build affordable housing on part of the Glebe land in the village, with other parts of the land used to support games and sport. Unfortunately Fyne Homes do not have the funding to do this at the moment and the scheme is back in the melting pot. A key prompt for this action was the need to provide alternative housing for local families who, in a sort of modern-day Clearances, have had to leave accommodation on Lunga which they had created and inhabited without planning permission.
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June 4th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Affordable homes? In Ardfern? They must be joking. Since the peninsula became the fashionable playground of the rich from the central belt, house prices in Ardfern have soared to the stratosphere. What is an ‘affordable’ home in such an area? How much will it cost? I’ve no doubt that, even if Fyne Homes had gone ahead, the houses would have been out of reach of most local people - just as the other ‘affordable’ homes built in the village were.
No new housing that would be allowed to be built in the village, however small and simple, would be ‘affordable’ for the many families who once lived in peace and security tucked away on Lunga Estate. Argyll and Bute Council has thrown these people out of their affordable homes in an attack on some of the more vulnerable people in our society that is analagous to the activities of the absentee landowners during the Highland Clearances.
The people being made homeless by ABC are not wastrels and layabouts, parasitising on our society. They are the builders, gardeners, electricians, artists and crafts people and workers that make up an essential part of the Craignish community. Their homes are on a private estate. They are not blots on the landscape. A stranger would be hard put to find many of them. They are there with the permission, and even encouragement, of the laird.
When the council bailiffs, or whoever, move in to evict these families, they really will be made homeless. Their only alternative may be to relocate to another part of the country, perhaps to a run down housing scheme on the edge of a city - just the sort of place many may have escaped from in search of a better environment and way of life.
Our councillors and officials will no doubt sleep well in their own homes, knowing that they have followed the rules and done their duty and upheld our social values.
June 4th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Really sympathise. Affordable homes are such a scarce commodity, and ABC doesn’t seem to recognise that every community needs a *really* mixed stock to make that community sustainable. Incomers can be a great addition when they settle permanently, but unfortunately it seems second home owners only contribute inflated house prices despite nearly universal best intentions. Development Trusts run by the community for the community may be the answer, but even then they need really effective leadership and a caucus of individuals with a great deal of time.