Edinburgh’s Finance Convener has responded after Glasgow councillor Ruari Kelly said Glasgow Council would “happily” take on the £60m capital which Edinburgh has not spent in this financial year.
On social media, Glasgow’s housing convener, Cllr Kelly said: “Having a little slippage in your build programme is one thing, not spending nearly half your budget is another.
“If Edinburgh can’t or won’t build houses then the money should be reallocated to Glasgow, the area of greatest housing need in the country.”
Cllr Mandy Watt who is in charge of finance in the capital has responded, telling the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Both Edinburgh and Glasgow are facing an unprecedented need for more homes.
“I would certainly welcome anything that The Scottish Government can do to help both cities address this need.”
She also restated her previous position that capital budgets being underspent is “not unusual” and that a lack of available homes to buy out is contributing to the problem.
At a meeting last week, council officers said the underspend – of £45m for buying housing stock, and almost £15million allocated to building new council houses – was due to “slippage”.
Councillors also noted £11 million in savings in the homelessness budget, which was welcomed as “good value for money”.
Cllr Kate Campbell told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “During a housing emergency, to fail to spend £60 million allocated for homes shows a complete lack of focus on the number one issue facing the city.”
Cllr Watt said the city had a duty to get the best value for money possible for taxpayers, and that the money would be carried over to next year.
Glasgow’s Cllr Kelly told the LDRS that Glasgow was building more council housing than surrounding local authorities, and that it had “some of the UK’s best social housing”.
He added that redirecting unspent housing money to the city, which he says faces the highest housing burden in Scotland, would contribute to addressing its housing crisis.
Cllr Kelly further said that he wanted to see more cooperation between local authorities on planning new housing projects and making better use of underutilised housing.
By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter
