Number of new homes built in Borders more than halves
Graham Ford • Published 3 Sep 2012 09:45
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Scottish Government figures published today have revealed that the number of new homes built in the Borders has more halved in the last year. A total of only 209 houses were built in 2011-12, compared with 573 the year before.
It is the lowest number that has been built in the region in the last 12 years, and is the fifth lowest of any local authority in Scotland. Local MSP John Lamont has called on the Scottish Government and the banking industry to do more to aid investment in the housing industry.
John Lamont MSP said: "These figures paint a worrying picture for the health of the housing sector in the Borders. Not only is the number of houses completed in 2011-12 well down on the year before, but it is the lowest number of houses completed in the area over the last 16 years.
"The housing industry is vital for our local economy, providing a lot of jobs. We cannot allow it to peter out like this, and something must be done to see this situation turned around. We are the fifth worst performing area in the whole of Scotland and we need to see this number improve.
"The SNP Government needs to step in and provide more support to our housing industry, to boost the number of homes being built. These figures show that they are clearly not investing enough in the Borders and they can no longer afford to ignore us.
"Banks should also be doing their fair share to help out. There are budding developers willing to invest in our area, but many of them are finding it hard to get funds. The lack of lending from banks to businesses at the moment is denting development and they need to take steps to make loans more readily available.
John Lamont added: "For the sake of our local economy we need to see an improvement soon. The last few years have understandably been tough for housing but when so many other areas are outperforming us we cannot be allowed to fall any further behind."
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