TARBERT will soon have no young families left if the village does not get new housing they can afford to buy or rent.
nd Skipness Community Council gave this warning to fellow members of the Kintyre Initiative working Group at Campbeltown last Friday.
Mr Macintyre demanded to know why two housing developments planned for Tarbert have been put on hold when there are more than a dozen young families looking for homes in the area.
Budget cuts
Councillor Anne Horn voiced concern about the situation and has been in contact with a number of the families desperate for affordable homes.
She said: ‘There is a huge need for affordable housing in Kintyre as a whole. We need to keep our young families in these villages for the sake of regeneration.
‘Affordable housing is a must if we want to encourage the younger generation to stay and work here.’
However, Alison Younger, area corporate services manager for Argyll and Bute Council said that it was a problem across the region, with Argyll Community Housing Association’s (ACHA) budget cut from £8million to £3million up to 2012.
Slow
Alan McDougal, director of Fyne Homes Housing Association, which was also planning a development in Tarbert, said: ‘Fyne Homes only recently received its grant planning funding target from the Scottish Government. Due to general budget cuts across the Scottish housing sector, this is less than half of what was allocated last year meaning that Argyll and Bute has been particularly badly hit as a result of these cuts.
‘This has resulted in the inevitable slow-down of our housing programme.
‘The development at Tarbert is still included in our future build programme, however its progression will depend on future funding allocations. If funding allocations remain at their current levels, the target for commencing work at Tarbert would be 2012-2013.’
