Where and what next?
"Affordable housing"

By Ian Williams FCA TEP, Campbell Dallas Chartered Accountants

The future of Perthshire and Kinross, from an economic perspective, figures high on the agenda of most public and private bodies charged with getting us ahead.

Our economic performance impacts hugely upon how we behave and what we stand for, such that it is the lifeblood of our future. We sit either side of Dundee and Stirling, both of which have universities supported by the "young" economies which go with the territory. Over the past five years, Perthshire and Kinross has been labelled an "old" economy, increasingly a dormitory city for Dundee and Edinburgh and an area living on its past of whisky, insurance and profitable farming. With this baggage it is easy to sympathise with the view that we are the "forgotten corner of Scotland".

The challenge is "what are we going to do about it"? Nothing, by the way, is not an option.

Public agents see our future around tourism. This is our biggest industry and we are fortunate to be housing the Gleneagles West development, near Auchterarder, and, hopefully, Scotland's Garden at Cherrybank in Perth. These are huge projects, likely to increase our importance as a national destination and put us on the "must see" map. Developments are also planned for Highland Perthshire.

The majority of our major tourist destinations are in very expensive areas to live. For example, the average residential transaction in Auchterarder in 2003 was £146,000 (new £200,00 and existing £143,000). In 2004, these figures had risen to an average of £195,000 (new £271,000 and existing £186,000). Similarly, for Pitlochry, the 2003 average was £147,000 (new £103,000 and existing £156,000) and the 2004 average of £176,000 (new £181,000 and existing £176,000) (source - Savills plc).

We are the second most expensive area in which to live in Scotland and the second least affordable area to buy in Scotland. If you are in the system this is good news, but if you are outside it is a horrible prospect to have to face.

In simple terms, where are the people who work at these destinations going to live. Additionally, tourism has not paid well. As a consequence, nobody remains in employment, meaning there is no incentive, on the part of the employers, to train and so on. If affordable housing were available, this could have a substantial impact upon this increasing problem.

According to SRPBA, who represent rural land interests in Scotland, the biggest impediment in the provision of affordable housing in rural Perthshire and Kinross is the lack of effective land supply, that is land that has planning permission, because of overly restrictive planning policies and access to adequate infrastructure (particularly water and sewage capacity).

Unless we are able to break through these planning and sewage barriers, we are looking at important projects just not coming to fruition, because there will not be anywhere for the workers to live. The problem needs innovative and brave solutions, such as rural exception sites, where Communities Scotland, working with the Scottish Executive, provide grants for new build private rented housing in rural areas (and not just in the Highlands). New planning policy urges local authorities to adopt a more proactive and enabling role, the effect of which should have a positive impact on the delivery of housing throughout Scotland and, more importantly, rural Perthshire and Kinross.

We all need to fight and lobby hard for this, because our economic future and well-being depends on it.