HOUSING CHIEFS in Argyll and Bute have been urged to investigate ways of ensuring that rural and island residents have easier ways of remaining within their communities.
A councillor asked if there was any way of influencing national policy so that the point- scoring system for council housing could assist residents in those areas.
It was also claimed that some were having to move away because they did not have enough points to make the council housing list.
An official responded that dialogue was ongoing to create as much flexibility as possible. The discussion took place at a full council meeting on Thursday, June 26.
Councillor Amanda Hampsey (Conservative, Oban South and the Isles) said: “From some work I have done recently, it has really struck me and made me consider whether there has been consideration given to try to influence national policy when it comes to point-scoring?
“I feel we are at a point now in rural and island areas where we may need to acknowledge local connections. What I am seeing is a real difficulty in rural and island areas where the point scoring simply is not high enough.
“People who live on islands are being forced to move away because they do not have enough points to come on our housing list.
“I know your department has done a great job to work to ensure we are tackling the population decline, and to ensure we are protecting the economic growth of our areas.
“But when you have working people whose work is valuable within areas, but they cannot be placed on the rental or purchase market, and they do not qualify for local authority housing, how can we ensure we look after these people in rural and island communities?”
Fergus Murray, the authority’s head of economic development, responded: “It is quite a complex question to reply to, but we have a number of local letting arrangements in place already and are in constant dialogue with the government.
“One area of dialogue is creating the flexibility as much as we can. But we cannot deny we have a shortage of supply, so we are continuing to try to work to improve.”
Subsequent discussion saw councillors ask to be involved in the dialogue going forward.
