Hansard

I thank colleagues from the Greens, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and, of course, the Scottish Conservatives for signing my motion. It is notable, but regrettable, that there is not a single signature from any member of the Scottish National Party. However, I genuinely thank Audrey Nicoll, the incumbent MSP for the constituency that is becoming Aberdeen Deeside and North Kincardine; her refreshing unwillingness to toe the party line and her willingness to stand with me for her constituents contrast directly with the approach of Aberdeen’s absent member of Parliament and that of the council co-leader, Christian Allard, who, last month, was delivering leaflets for himself 70 miles away in Angus. Only yesterday, Mr Allard was quoted as saying that the Torry home owners will be out by winter; that followed on from him asking one owner whether they had considered bankruptcy as a solution.

That aside, in December 2023, nine landlords confirmed the presence of RAAC in 953 council homes; that does not include former council homes. In that year, Aberdeen City Council warned that around 500 homes in the Balnagask area in Aberdeen contained RAAC. Of those, 150 were private homes, whose owners were told that the council would buy their houses at the post-RAAC value. I ask members to imagine the situation: either to stay in a house where the roof might fall in, or to accept the lower price and move elsewhere instead, with £40,000 or perhaps £50,000 of outstanding mortgage left over their head. The consequences are disastrous.

At The Press and Journal’s “Trapped by RAAC” panel event, Torry general practitioner Dr Crofton said that his practice is looking after 60 people with new health problems that the situation has caused. Patients are reporting depression, anxiety, insomnia and stress-related conditions such as chest pains. Some, tragically, have turned to drink, and, in one particularly harrowing testimony, one dad reported that he was considering driving into the harbour so that his family could get the insurance.

Residents report a community torn apart, children separated from friendship groups and elderly and disabled people ripped from their support networks, all for the sake of £5 million, which, according to campaigner Raymond Davidson, could ensure that those home owners got the proper value for their homes and could—literally—move on.

It is appalling and shocking, but not as shocking as the buck passing that we have seen. Campaigners have seen councils and the Scottish Government desperately try to blame the United Kingdom Government. Even today, the new Cabinet Secretary for Housing spent longer pointing at Westminster than proposing solutions, yet RAAC is a devolved matter.

Of course, whenever Westminster tries to intervene directly—for example, on freeports, investment zones or shared prosperity funds—this Government kicks up about undermining devolution. Even were it not so, let us never forget that, in 2020 and 2021, the UK Government gave the Scottish Government more than £97 million to remedy the Grenfell cladding issue. Five years on, the SNP can account for only around £10 million of that having been spent.

Meanwhile, Aberdeen City Council pleads poverty, while ignoring every solution that is put forward by the home owners. I accept that Aberdeen City Council is cash strapped, following years of SNP underfunding. Nonetheless, the council’s budget is nearly £1.5 billion a year, and it makes choices as to how it spends that, with residents being only too aware of the choices that it is currently making.

As campaigners have noted, the former SNP councillor Alex Nicoll explained at last week’s panel event that, under the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003, councils can go to the housing minister to ask for funds to be reclassified, but—as he said—the councils had never collectively done that.

Let us be clear: the Scottish Government has not given a single penny to the Torry home owners. As with the council, that is about choices. The block grant has been at record levels since the pandemic and, this year, it is £50 billion. Last week’s spending review announced an extra £2.9 billion coming to Holyrood on top of that. It is the Scottish Government that chooses not to spend £5 million to alleviate the problem.

However, it is apparently okay that Scotland has spent £3.5 million on independence planning since 2021 and £5 million in three years on public consultations, and that the around 130 Scottish quangos have had £120 million to spend annually on public relations, external consultants, overseas travel and hospitality.

Even allowing for those poor choices, I have flagged a £20 million pot from the Aberdeen city region deal for housing projects of exactly the sort that we are discussing today, and yet not a single penny has been drawn down since 2016. If that money is not drawn down by 2027, it will disappear. It will be absorbed back into the coffers of the Scottish Government to pay for whatever it chooses, which, this week, would seem to be special advisers and lawyers.

Since the turn of the year, I have sent six letters to the Scottish Government, asking it to release those funds, but the former Minister for Housing refused to budge. Then, in early May, Aberdeen City Council said that it and Aberdeenshire Council have made at least 12 applications for the money but are continually rebuffed because they do not meet the criteria.

What are the criteria? The councils say that the Government, in the past nine years, has not told them. I wrote to the housing minister around six weeks ago, requesting urgent answers. He had not the courtesy to respond to me before he slunk away, so, on hearing of the new cabinet secretary’s appointment last Thursday, I immediately forwarded the letter and pleaded for urgent answers. I have yet to receive a response, but perhaps she will tell us all in her closing remarks.

We have heard—and throughout the debate, we will hear—about communities whose hopes and dreams stand on shaky foundations as a result of decisions that were made decades ago and the slopy shoulders of politicians today. Will it take a tragedy, and a Netflix documentary, before the SNP takes responsibility and does the right thing?

The cabinet secretary faces a choice today. At the stroke of a pen, she can instantly make it right for the people of Torry and the thousands of people across Scotland who are trapped by RAAC, and—quite literally—save people’s lives. Alternatively, she can ignore the home owners, follow the instructions of the SNP hierarchy, shift blame and forever reflect on the consequences of inaction. I pray that she chooses wisely.