Local Housing Consultation - Blairgowrie

Overview

Rural Housing Scotland, on behalf of Perth and Kinross Council, are looking to find out what kind of affordable housing is needed in Blairgowrie.

Rural Housing Scotland are a charity which aims to help create more affordable housing options within rural communities.

Why your views matter

From renting a council house to building your own home, there is a huge range of housing solutions possible in Blairgowrie- we want your help to find out which you’re interested in and which you think would help meet local housing need and demand in the town.

As well as the main housing options like buying a home or renting a home there are a number of new and alternative solutions which could be developed in Blairgowrie such as community led housing, co-housing, self build or mutual home ownership cooperatives.

We hope that by consulting with the Blairgowrie community, we will be able to find out what the need is for different housing options and help guide the development of affordable housing which meets the needs and aspirations of local people.

Rural Housing Scotland will lead this consultation throughout the autumn. Keep an eye on social media for details of public events.

For further information please contact Rural Housing Scotland at derek@ruralhousingscotland.org or use the contact details provided on this consultation page.

Before completing the survey, please take a look at the following links which explain some of the affordable housing options available. You can access they survey at the bottom of the page.

Affordable Housing Options

Affordable Housing is housing which someone living and working in the community on a local wage can afford to buy or rent on a monthly basis. This can be for people on low incomes or those on modest incomes who rent from a council or housing association.

Below is a video showing a new family recently moved into their new affordable home in Blairgowrie:

Low cost home ownership enables you to purchase a percentage of a property if you can't afford the total cost. This is usually between 60-90% and an agency, such as the Scottish Government, owns the remaining percentage. There are options to buy a brand new property or purchase a property on the open market.

This video explains more about buying a new home from a council, housing association or private developer.

This video explains more about buying a home on the open market:

Amenity housing is accommodation designed generally to meet the needs of older people. It will have some or all of the following features:

• Community Alarm
• Clustered around people with similar needs
• No stairs inside
• Handrails in the bathroom
• Lever-handled taps
• Slip-resistant flooring in kitchen and bathroom

Retirement housing is designed for older people and is more managed accommodation with security. It will have some or all of the following features:

• On site management services 
• Responding to calls
• Facilitating activities
• A staff presence to offer help to tenants with any services they require and any health and safety issues

Sheltered housing is accommodation with security designed for older people who need additional support to continue living independently in the community. It has all the features of amenity housing but in addition will have:

• Tenants lounge for socialising
• Shared laundry facilities
• Staff on site Monday - Friday
• Access to an emergency mobile response service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

Cohousing/Community Led Housing is an intentional community of private self-contained homes with shared community spaces, created and run by those living there. Residents come together to manage their community, share activities, and regularly eat together. It can facilitate communities in providing social, practical, economic and environmental benefits.

Here are some examples :

Community Led Housing in Ulva Ferry - Following community consultation and identifying housing as a top priority for the area, two three-bedroom houses have been built next to the local school, occupied by local families.

Cohousing in North London -  A group of women over fifty have created their own community in a new, purpose-built block of flats in North London.

Mutual Home Ownership Cooperative in Leeds - A household scheme set up by Lilac in 2012 to provide permanently affordable homes in a community where “all residents feel they are part of a strong, flourishing neighbourhood where they can directly participate” through environmentally “low impact living”.

Self Build Housing is housing built by individuals or groups for their own use, and can be created to suit varying individual needs. The self-builder's input into this process varies from doing the actual building work to contracting out all work to an architect or building company.

Here are some examples of different self build projects in Perthshire and Edinburgh:

Spittalfield - The Spittalfield village project was a unique rural housing initiative in Perthshire where local people worked together to deveop 12 detached bungalows built by local families with the help of Rural Home Ownership Grants.

Portobello - a modern tenement block in Edinburgh developed by four families who now live in homes they designed themselves.

What happens next

The Consultation has now closed. Thank you for your input. We will be considering feedback from all respondents and will post the results on this page.