Don't Make the Mistakes of the Past

A new programme of council house building was officially unveiled by the Deputy First Minister in what could, for some, be the West Lothian answer to the mortgage crisis.
Nicola Sturgeon confirmed the £25m-plus plan, revealed in The Herald last Saturday, in Livingston, which she said would "kick start a new generation of council house building".
The SNP-led West Lothian Council, the first to embark on such a move, will initially spend £7.5m building 240 council houses for rent, with more to follow.

From The Herald, 26 April 2008

Good news for the thousands of people who can't afford the often financially crippling cost of a mortgage - and another sign that a nationalist government is in touch with needs of the people in Scotland. It's a quarter of a century since The Hatcher's Conservative government launched the 'right to buy' scheme for council house tenants. The fall-out of which has led to a desperate shortage of affordable housing in Scotland. Now there is at least hope for Scots who struggle to make ends meet. But it is hoped that lessons are learned from the past.

The creation of many housing schemes in the 1950s/1960s were ill-thought and, in retrospect, flawed. Not enough thought was put in to the effect 'concrete jungles' would have on society. Tower blocks and shabbily built houses became the breeding ground for anti-social behaviour and serious crime and when The Hatcher's anti-Scottish policies put thousands of Scots out of work, there emerged a potent mixture for social depravity.

One would hope the Scottish Nationalists will have devised a way of avoiding the mistakes of the past. There's no sense in building hundreds of houses and having them all in the same location. Surely it would be better to scatter the new council houses among a wide mix of areas so that the lower paid workers have the same amenities as better paid people and have the chance to improve their lives. 240 council houses in the same area will surely only widen the haves and have nots in society and and increase bitter social divisions.

There is still a class divide in this country and the radical ideal of social integration needs a helping hand. Don't put all your eggs in one basket, my granny used to say, God rest her soul. An adage the Scottish government would be well advised to heed with regard to this announcement.

For in years to come no one wants more broken shells.