Council axes ‘right to buy’ housing plan

Published on 01/09/2012 12:55

Plans to reintroduce a “right to buy” scheme for council houses in East Lothian have been scrapped.

East Lothian Council’s Labour/Conservative coalition unanimously agreed to adopt both parties’ manifestos as council policy in May, despite strong criticism from the SNP that neither party had outlined the costs of its pledges.

SNP housing spokesman Councillor Stuart Currie said: “We warned Labour and their Tory partners that bringing back a policy such as this would be a disaster for East Lothian.

“However, only in May and despite our warnings, they voted to approve it as the new policy of East Lothian Council. Now in August, having seen the error of their ways, they have dumped it knowing the damage it would do both to housing and to them 
politically.”