Affordable homes pledge falls woefully short as just 80 built

JUST 80 affordable homes have been built in the Capital in the last six years as part of a flagship council initiative - despite more than 4000 of them being promised.

The authority brought in tough rules six years ago to force builders to turn a proportion of most new private sector developments over to affordable housing.

This figure was put up to 25 per cent last year yet "shocking" new figures have revealed that only two per cent of more than 4000 cheap homes given planning consent since 2001 have actually been built.

Protracted negotiations between the council and developers have been blamed for the lack of progress, as well as firms dragging their heels releasing the land set aside for first-time buyers and other target groups.

Presently there are no deadlines on when work on affordable housing must start - it is up to developers when they release land.

City leaders also blame a lack of money to build the new housing, with Edinburgh receiving less than half of the funding per capita that Glasgow gets, despite the chronic housing shortage here.

Housing associations are building around 500 affordable homes in Edinburgh every year but this rate of investment falls well short of the 12,000 needed in the next ten years to cope with the city's growing population.

City leader Jenny Dawe has called for more Scottish Executive investment but said she wants officials to look at ways of tightening up the rules for developers and making sure that planning conditions are adhered to.

She said: "I found the figures quite shocking. We have only seen a fraction of what has been committed to being built and this gap needs to be rectified.

"Firstly, we need to make sure that the 25 per cent of land is actually being delivered, and that may be through building in targets into planning conditions.

"But possibly more importantly we need to address the fact Edinburgh is chronically underfunded for housing.

"We need at least two to three times the amount of affordable housing currently being built so something needs to change.

"We are committed to looking into the feasibility of upping the 25 per cent figure but we don't want to scare off developers from the city. Getting the 25 per cent working first must be the priority."

Developers have to either build the affordable housing themselves or, more commonly, gift the land to a housing association which then builds the homes.

Edinburgh receives significantly less cash for affordable housing from the Scottish Executive than other areas of Scotland. Figures for 2007/08 shows that Edinburgh will get 77.88 per capita but Glasgow will receive 142.93 per capita.

Councillor Paul Edie, the city's housing leader, today said he will seek an urgent meeting with the Scottish Executive to discuss the problem.

He said: "Tackling the need for homes that people can afford is a major priority for me. More than 4566 families on the council's housing register in Edinburgh are living in cramped, over-crowded accommodation. This is simply not acceptable. Over the next 15 years, Edinburgh's population is set to grow faster than any other part of the country.

"I am calling for immediate action to investigate what options are open to us in resolving the acute shortage of affordable housing in Edinburgh."