RIP Laura Buckley Noonan
Search
07 Sept 2025
Search
07 Sept 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
The housing minister has denied work on affordable homes has ground to a halt because of budget cuts from the Scottish Government, while insisting housebuilding targets can still be met.
Paul McLennan said the Government had invested in housing but highlighted cuts to the Scottish capital budget.
He was responding to figures from the housebuilding trade body Homes for Scotland, which said the construction of more than 1,800 affordable homes had been stalled by budget cuts.
The organisation’s chief executive Jane Wood told The Herald that cuts in the Government budget were “devastating” and that urgent action was needed.
Mr McLennan was asked about the situation when he appeared on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland radio programme on Monday.
He said the Welsh Government had also been hit by cuts to its capital spending budget from Westminster.
He was asked about Homes for Scotland’s claims that affordable housing projects had been abandoned, with the SNP minister saying this was not the case and that the organisation’s findings had not been shared with him.
Mr McLennan said: “The information that Homes of Scotland have hasn’t been shared with ourselves and I’d be delighted to discuss that with them.
“I meet individual local authorities on a regular basis to discuss these sites.”
The housing minister was also asked if the Scottish Government target of building 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 was unrealistic.
He said: “I think the target is achievable.
“And one of the key things is how do we achieve that. And again, that’s very much partnership working with local authorities, with Homes for Scotland, with the UK Government and so on.
“We’re focused and we’re determined to deliver on that target.”
Earlier this year, Scottish Labour said the target was in “tatters” due to a fall in approvals for new housebuilding.
In May, the Scottish Parliament voted to declare a nationwide housing emergency, calling for a coherent plan to address the situation.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
