A group behind the construction of affordable homes for workers on one of Scotland’s islands have said they plan to continue building.
The Arran Development Trust announced this week that its long project to build homes for local workers was almost completed, with 18 tenants ready to move into newly-built properties in the village of Lamlash.
But they estimate that at least 60 more similar properties are needed to meet demand, based on the number of eligible applications they had to turn down.
Housing on Arran, sometimes called Scotland in miniature, is crippled by the number of second and holiday homes which have been snapped up in recent decades.
Local workers have been priced out of the property market on the Inner Hebridean island in the Firth of Clyde, with many young people leaving for the mainland, threatening communities and vital services.
Rents for the ‘General Needs Workers Homes’ built by ADT are capped at Local Authority Housing Allowance Level, meaning they are affordable to workers who want to stay on the island.
One future tenant said that being accepted would halve their current rent – giving them a “warm, dry affordable home”.
“I can both breathe and live again,” they added.
Sheena Borthwick-Toomey, Operations Director at ADT, said that the workers and families whose applications were successful should move in within a few weeks.
While the homes have been completed, utilities still have to be connected, though this is expected to be finished by early October.
She said that the success of the project, which began in 2015 but was disrupted by the Covid pandemic, meant that more people on the island were looking to get involved in future building schemes.
READ MORE:
-
Affordable worker homes on island hotspot filled within a day
-
Wait for affordable Arran homes almost over with £3.6m windfall to build houses
Ms Borthwick-Toomey said: “We’re expecting all the tenants to be moving in around early October. Landowners have come forward to say they have heard of the community effort and have offered us land for development.
“They say they have two to three acres here, or five acres there and that they are willing to get involved.
“There’s a real realisation across the island that more needs to be done to provide housing.”
On top of the 72 applications which met the eligibility criteria for one of the homes, which included being a resident of the island and being in employment, there were many more which were speculative.
One even came from the South of England from someone “looking for a nice place to retire to”.
Others came from people who had left the island and wished to return.
Ms Borthwick-Toomey said that ADT intend to keep going, and would be approaching the Scottish Government for funds for the next phase once the dust has settled on the current development.
The 18 homes at Lamlash were financed by a mixture of money from the Rural & Islands Housing Fund, and crowd-sourced community funding.
She said: “We have already achieved what we said we would deliver, and we want to keep going with that.
“I think it could be the largest community-run development in Scotland. There is definitely still demand – we had far more applications than we could accept.”
The most southernly of the Scottish isles, Arran has become a popular destination for holidaymakers and visitors, offering attractions ranging from built heritage and historic sites to wildlife and outdoor pursuits.
Situated in the Firth of Clyde, the island is home to several thriving businesses with international reputations, including the Auchrannie resort, the Arran brewery and Arran Aromatics.
Residents and businesses have long campaigned for affordable housing with the island also a popular choice for second homes. North Ayrshire Council is considering an increased council tax for second homes on the island and those on the neighbouring isle of Cumbrae, with some 580 properties on Arran classed as second or 'holiday' homes.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here