Durness Housing Initiative

Partners

Durness Housing Liaison Group Scottish Homes Rural Housing Service Albyn Housing Society Sutherland District Council Durness Community Council

Abstract

The local community undertook a local housing needs survey which demonstrated housing need in Durness and successfully secured new affordable rented housing from Albyn Housing Society with the support of Scottish Homes.

Location

Durness Parish lies at the extreme north-west corner of the Scottish mainland in the County of Sutherland. It covers a spectacularly beautiful part of the Highlands, comprising wild shoreline, wonderful sandy beaches, some good grazing land and a vast hinterland of moors and mountains.

The principle settlement of the area is the extended village of Durness made up of several crofting townships. The Parish also includes the much smaller outlying settlements of Laid, Eriboll and Hope.

Durness is 74 miles from the County town of Golspie and 103 miles from Inverness. The first 52 miles of both journeys are along single track roads, which subsequently increase travelling time.

The population of the parish is 351 (1991 census) and the school roll is 27 and is projected to be at or around this figure for the forseeable future. The age structure of the population is well balanced although the proportion of residents aged over 80 is high. The stability of the population level over the last 20+ years suggests population decline is unlikely. It appears quite probable that numbers will gradually increase if the local economy remains vibrant enough to continue to hold its young people (nearly 2/3rds of the present population is aged under 35).

The village has a Post Office, two petrol stations and two very good grocers shops/general stores. Most other goods are shopped for on trips to Inverness. Public transport is limited to the Post Office Mailbus which travels to and from Kinlochbervie each day, save Sunday. Cars are therefore essential items for almost all households.

Durness Housing Needs Survey

The original impetus for the Durness Housing Needs Survey came from the Durness Community Care Group, which was founded by Age Concern in 1990. The group, which aims to try and ensure that the needs of older people in the Durness area are properly catered for locally, identified housing as an area of particular concern. They felt however that the particular housing needs of the elderly should be looked at in the context of all the local housing needs and opportunities.

As a result the Durness Housing Liaison Group, was set up in May 1992 under the chairmanship of the Reverend Macsween. With the support of Durness Community Council and Sutherland District Council the Housing Liaison Group asked Di Alexander, Rural Housing Service to survey and help analyse the housing situation in the whole Parish of Durness.

With the involvement of the Local Housing Liaison Group a detailed questionnaire was drawn up and posted to everyone of the Parish's 150 permanently resident households. By the end of November 1992 62% (93 questionnaires) had been returned for subsequent analysis. Respondents were assured that all the information provided would be treated with complete confidentiality - no names or addresses were requested and questionnaires were returned to the Rural Housing Service in envelopes sealed by respondents.

Other relevant evidence, published and unpublished, was gathered in from various sources including Sutherland District Council, Highland Regional Council, DAFS and Scottish Homes.

Main Findings

The main findings of the Survey were:

Description Despite the disadvantages associated with the remoteness of its location, Durness is an economically robust and demographically well balanced community of 150 households or about 350 people.

Affordability Given the much lower than average disposable incomes and the high cost of living most (80% or more) Durness households in housing need would realistically only be able to afford to spend £20 - £30 a week on their basic housing costs. The rest could afford to spend somewhat more but very few if any could afford to compete on the open housing market.

Housing Tenure 75% of all the permanently resident households live in privately owned housing owner-occupied, crofting, tied or rented). 18% live in Council Houses and 7% in caravans or holiday chalets.

Rented Supply Rented housing opportunities are very scarce locally, with an average of one Council House relet each year and private rentals are even scarcer and are more expensive.

New Build 2 or 3 new houses a year are built by locals, mostly crofters assisted by the Crofter Housing Grant and Loan Scheme..

Holiday & 2nd Homes Nearly one house in every five is used as a holiday or 2nd home. In the township of Laid two thirds of the permanent housing stock is now used for holiday purposes.

Caravans and Chalets In the absence of any other affordable or available housing opportunities 10 households (5 couples, 5 singles) stay in caravans or holiday chalets all or most of the year round.

House Conditions A third of the occupied housing stock would fail to meet the Below Tolerable Standard definition and needs substantial remedial works. A third is in need of minor repairs and the final third is in good condition. Several Council Houses are also in need of minor or major remedial works.

Council Waiting list Only 2 of the 11 first choice applicants on the Durness Council House waiting list were aged over 35. The waiting list included 6 young couples, 3 single persons and 2 families. Most of the applicants were presently staying with parents or in lodgings or caravans.

Young Couples and Young Single People The greatest need for new housing in Durness comes from young couples and single people.

The Elderly and Disabled Most of Durness's 45 or so pensioner and/or disabled households have minor to pressing housing needs. Although most would not wish to leave their own homes it should be noted that there are 30 pensioner only households in the Parish, including 16 pensioners living alone, 12 of whom are over 80 years old. Several houses are BTS or otherwise unsuitable for their elderly or disabled occupants. There is no amenity or sheltered housing presently available in Durness.

Tigh Ceilidh (Day Care Centre) The overwhelming majority of local people wish to see a Day Care Centre in Durness.

Families Several overcrowded households and families staying in tied housing are also needing to make better or alternative homes for themselves.

Overall Housing Need 16 households are presently in need of appropriate and affordable housing. The households include 3 elderly and/or disabled households, 6 young couples, 4 families in overcrowded or tied housing and 3 single persons. The evidence also suggests that 2 or 3 new households a year will develop needs for new housing.

The Community VIew Most local people would like to see more housing available in Dumess, predominantly for young couples and the elderly, with a Day Care Centre.

Development Constraints There are no constraints to development in Durness.

Options

There are a range of options to tackle the housing problems and meet the local needs:

• a "Care and Repair" project to overcome the housing repair and improvement problems, especially of the elderly

• a housing association or Trust development of 8 - 10 units for rent, with perhaps one or two for Shared Ownership. The scheme should include one unit adopted for use as a Day Care Centre (Tigh Ceilidh)

• a Housing Association encouraging and supporting those households in housing need who have expressed an interest in building their own homes, provided the grants and other logistic support were available.

• making full use of the availability to crofters in housing need of the Crofter Housing Grant and Loan Scheme

Next Steps

Armed with this telling evidence of housing need in Durness the community sent a copy of the Housing Needs Survey to Scottish Homes. The Chair of the Housing Liaison Group Rev. Donald MacSween subsequently met with Scottish Homes on the 1st April 1993 to discuss the main points of the report.

Scottish Homes agreed that the need for a small housing association development was “well evidenced in the report and Scottish Homes would support the development of such a scheme”. They agreed to allocate funds for the project in the 1994/95 financial year. They also agreed that they would support the inclusion of a Tigh Ceilidh in the scheme in partnership with the Social Work Department. Durness Housing Initiative Site 2 Plan Finally Scottish Homes agreed that the housing association to develop the houses in Durness would be chosen by the Housing Liaison Group in conjunction with Scottish Homes.

The Competition

As there was no local housing association in North West Sutherland three housing associations active in the Highlands were asked if they would like to apply for the Durness development; Kirk Care Housing Association, Albyn Housing Society and Cairn Housing Association.

The three associations were asked to attend interviews in Durness on the 16th August 1993. Each association was asked to make a presentation to the Housing Liaison Group based on a set of questions sent out in advance.

The questions asked the associations to detail their: • Local knowledge and Experience • Commitment to Community Involvement • Rent levels and arrears policies • Allocation policies • Management and maintenance policies • Experience of Community Care including Care & Repair • Communication with tenants • Future Development Programme

Albyn Housing Society were the successful candidates and were appointed by Scottish Homes to take forward the housing development at Durness in partnership with the local community.

The Development

The Site

To identify an appropriate site for the development, Donald Lockhart, Albyn’s Development Manager visited Durness Site 2 in November 1993. He looked at various options , some of which were on the outskirts of the village. The preferred option for both the association and community was a site in the centre of the village. There was land adjacent to Hames Place which could be used for housing. Site 3 Site 1 This land was near to the local shop, village hall and other local amenities.

Albyn subsequently met with the Planning department and a proposal was put to the Housing Liaison Group in December 1993 to develop a level site next to Hames Place (Site 1) . Subsequent to the meeting it was learned that there was some local disagreement with the site discussed at the meeting. Cllr Francis Keith suggested that the site which the local Estate had agreed to donate was Site 2. This unfortunately was not as suitable as Site 1 as it had a major outcrop of rock. The Housing Liaison Group asked Albyn to investigate the suitability of Site 2. A report was commissioned from the Dinardo Partnership. This concluded that the rock problem was significant and would have cost implications which might rule out this site in terms of Scottish Homes approval given the availability of other sites. This was reported to the Group on 27th October 1994, which asked that an investigation be made of another site Site 3.

Site Ownership

Whilst the discussions were progressing over where the houses would be located. The company which owned all of the site options, a Liechtenstein registered company Vibel SA temporarily went in to liquidation. Vibel own Durness Estate and are investigating establishing a superquarry in the area. All enquiries to do with the site had to be routed through a Liechtenstein firm of advocates and it was not clear whether the estate would choose to donate any other site apart from Site 2 to the community. (Phil can we build a link from Vibel to recent news articles about them www.sundayherald.com/news/newsi.hts?section=News&story_id=7955 www.sundayherald.com/news/newsi.hts?section=News&story_id=8090

All of the sites discussed also had a presumption against development in planning terms and would need careful discussion with the Planners.

Housing Mix /Day Care Centre

It was agreed by the community, housing association and Scottish Homes that there would be 6 2-bed elderly amenity houses on the site plus two units which would be a Day Care Centre.

Day Care Centre

The Day Care Centre or Tigh Ceilidh had been central to the community’s plans for development and had been overwhelmingly supported in the Housing Needs Survey. Scottish Homes at the beginning of the project in 1994 agreed to provide funding for the Centre. However in January 1995 Scottish Homes informed Albyn Housing Society that they did not fund day centres, they could contribute up to 40% of the costs of a community facility but this could not be a Day Care Centre exclsuively for the use of elderly people.

This was a bombshell for the project as it had been assumed from previous contact with Scottish Homes that they would provide capital funding for the Tigh Celidh as only revenue funding was available from the Social Work Department for the project. The Day Centre was planned to be within the shell of two of the houses to be built as part of the development.

There appears to have been some confusion over exactly what constitutes a Tigh Ceilidh with Scottish Homes believing it to be a community facility whilst others saw it as a Day Centre for the elderly. Scottish Homes argued that they didn’t have powers to fund Day Care Centres which are a Social Work responsibility.

After dropping this bombshell Scottish Homes refused to meet with the community or help to resolve how the Day Care Centre could be funded. It fell to Albyn Housing Society to relay the news to the community. The impact of the news was to create a sense of mistrust between the community and Albyn, and several members of the Group threatened to resign. There was also disbelief as all present felt that it had been made clear by Scottish Homes that they would fund the Day Centre. It was resolved by the Group to approach Scottish Homes for part funding of the Day Centre given that it would be a community facility and failing that seek agreement that the two units envisaged for the Day Centre would be turned back into housing for families.

Scottish Homes did not commit any funds to the Tigh Ceilidh but agreed to provide funds to enable the houses which had been proposed as a Day care Centre to be made into 2 5apt family houses to add to the 6 3apt houses which were being built to amenity standard.

The Day Care Centre proposal was dropped from the housing development but not by the community who have been working tirelessly to secure Day Care for Durness. Now 8 years on from the Housing Needs Survey that a centre may be built in the village on the site behind the Shop (site 3).

The Housing Development

It was eventually agreed by the Housing Liaison Group, Scottish Homes and Albyn that the best site for the development incorporated parts of Site 1 and Site 2. The access was secured through Hames Place however the eventual layout of the houses avoided the worst of the rock at the far end of site 2 by building in part of Site 1.

The land was bought by Albyn Housing Society from Durness Estate (Vibel SA) for an agreed Market Value. Vibel SA undertook to distribute a proportion of the receipt for the house land to local causes.

The project was completed in July 1997, 4 years from the first meeting between the Housing Liaison Group and Scottish Homes. The houses are No 6-13 Hames Place, Durness.

Despite the disappointment of the Day Centre and the lengthy wrangling over sites, Donald Lockhart, Development Manager at Albyn Housing Society views the project as a success

“Despite the project’s many challenges and false starts, I am proud of what we eventually achieved in bringing much needed, high quality new homes to Durness. Many valuable lessons were learned by us in the process about the need for excellent communications with community groups and leaders which Albyn has used to good effect in many other Highland communities since. Albyn Housing Society is grateful to the people of Durness for giving it this unique opportunity to work with them to improve housing provision in the village.”