By Keith Aitken in Edinburgh | 16 July 2012
Scottish ministers have published figures showing that Scotland is building council houses at more than five times the per capita rate found in England.
The Scottish Government yesterday issued comparisons of statistics contained in the Scottish social sector build series and its English counterpart. These showed that, last year, Scotland built 19.4 council houses per 100,000 of the population, compared with 3.5 in England.On the broader measure of social housing, the comparisons showed that Scotland has completed 510.9 homes per 100,000 population over the past five years, against England’s 254.6.
Ministers also highlighted the University of York’s UK Housing Review, which recently put housing spend at 3.5% of Scottish Government expenditure, against an equivalent UK figure of 2.5%.
The housebuilding boost reflects a Scottish Government housing investment budget worth £730m over the three years to 2014/15. This is projected to drive £3bn of economic activity and support as many as 8,000 jobs in any given year.
Alex Neil, Scottish infrastructure and capital investment secretary, said it was a ‘priority’ of the Scottish Government to support the construction sector by investing in housing.
He said that more than 6,800 affordable homes were built last year, while subsidies have been provided for the completion of 1,658 new council homes over the past three years.
‘This has generated an estimated £340m of economic activity, and on average supported an estimated 830 jobs each year, directly and indirectly, across the Scottish economy,’ the minister said.
But the housebuilding comparisons also mask fluctuations in activity. On the Scottish Government’s own figures, the number of council house starts fell by 47% on the previous 12 months in the year to December 2011, though completions increased by 65%. New house completions as a whole are down by more than a third in three years.
• The Scottish Government’s public consultation on the independence referendum attracted more than 26,000 responses, it was announced at the weekend. The total is 5,000 more than was previously estimated. Fewer than 3,000 people took part in the equivalent UK government consultation.
