A West Lothian’s RAAC campaigner has welcomed the decision by Holyrood to keep the national petition calling on help for homeowners open.
The petition, one of hundreds before MSPs, had faced being closed because of time constraints of the current parliament, which aces an election next May.
MSPs agreed with a suggestion from Fergus Ewing MSP (Independent) that the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee use the remaining time to encourage new discussions between London and Edinburgh.
Kerry Macintosh, who is vice chair of the national RAAC UK campaign, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that she was delighted at the decision to keep the petition, which has gathered more than 2,500 signatures, open.
“ I am really impressed with what the committee has done, and the decision that has been taken,” she said.
Kerry campaigned for a new home in Deans South Livingston for almost 20 years after the former Livingston Development Corporation house she bought was condemned along with every other council home on the estate because of crumbling concrete roofs and walls.
The building material used in the 1960s and 70s is porous and eventually disintegrates in wet conditions.
West Lothian has hundreds of homes affected by RAAC as well as public buildings including schools and community centres. The council faces a £50 million bill to rebuild two thirds of one of its largest schools.
The petition was first lodged by UK RAAC campaign chair Wilson Chowdhry and his daughter Hannah, who bought a house in Aberdeen only to find it condemned because of crumbling concrete.
Failing to help homeowners would bring both parliaments “into disrepute”, said Mr Ewing.
Mr Ewing told the committee: “I strongly believe that it’s no use Scotland blaming London, London blaming Scotland.
“The people in the middle, some of whom are the ones here today are the ones that are suffering in some cases from the threat of bankruptcy, so I think this blame passing thing is just not good enough.
“So because there’s a new cabinet secretary and because there’s a new Secretary of State for Scotland, Mairi McAllan and Douglas Alexander, why don’t they just meet and come up with a solution.
“This can’t go on forever and if it does then it just brings into disrepute the Scottish Parliament and the UK government”
Mr Ewing said: “We talk all the time about working together, well let’s see the proof, let’s see the proof.”
Committee chair Jackson Carlaw (Conservative) replied: “You’re asking we act as a sort of marriage guidance counsellor, write to both the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Cabinet Secretary encouraging them both to meet to try and find a pathway forward that might resolve the issues?
“I think we could do so on the basis we take this petition extremely seriously and given the time left in this parliament it would be helpful if both these parties would respond positively to our suggestion that they have that discussion.”
Mr Carlaw had already told the meeting that some petitions would not be heard within the remaining few months of this parliament, and decisions had to be made on which ones should be kept active.
The petition has three clear demands: A national fund to support homeowners and tenants whose properties are impacted by RAAC; a public inquiry into how councils and housing associations have managed the crisis; and new legislation to ensure accountability for substandard building materials and a register of high-risk buildings in Scotland.
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
