Incompetence Of Scottish Homes

EDM number 672 in 1994-95, proposed by Jimmy Dunnachie on 23/02/1995.

That this House notes with grave concern that Scottish Homes, a quango appointed by the Secretary of State for Scotland, used every means at its disposal to empty the 56-flat, multi-storey Waverley Court in Paisley around five years ago in order to sell it off to the private sector for redevelopment; believes that it is, at best, gross incompetence and, at worst, criminal negligence that the building is still empty now because Scottish Homes failed to properly evaluate and consult on its proposals; understands that, having cleared the building, they could find no mortgage lender or housing association prepared to develop it for alternative housing use, a fact which deserved to be discovered before public money was wasted on plans motivated only by political ideology; further notes that elected councillors who were guilty of such incompetence would be liable to personal surcharge; contrasts this with the appointed place-people on the board of this quango so are exempt for such surcharge and draw allowances far greater than those elected through the ballot box; asserts that it is a public scandal and a moral disgrace that Scotland's so-called national housing agency could allow so many houses to be boarded up for so long in an area of high homelessness; and calls on the Secretary of State for Scotland to launch an immediate public inquiry.

This motion has been signed by a total of 31 MPs.