Rennie to chair housing summit for North East Fife

Scottish Liberal Democrat and MSP for North East Fife, Willie Rennie, will chair a summit to address the challenges facing housing in the constituency on Friday.

The MSP has organised the summit, which will be held on Friday 30th June at the University of St Andrews, to facilitate debate and discussion between key stakeholders, saying that it comes at an ‘urgent time’ for housing in the local area.

The summit will also see presentations and panel discussions, including tenants and aspiring home owners, and representatives from the holiday lets industry, the University of St Andrews, Fife Council. Other speakers will include the Scottish Government’s housing minister Paul McLennan, Professor of Housing Economics at the University of Glasgow, Ken Gibb, and Assistant Director of Shelter Scotland, Gordon MacRae.

Speaking ahead of the summit, Willie Rennie said:

“This summit comes at an urgent time for housing in North East Fife. The local area faces pressure from a number of important sectors such as tourism, university education, agriculture and golf.

“Local people struggle to find affordable housing in or the near the communities where they work. There is a shortage of housing for people on modest incomes, for students at St Andrews University and housing suitable for people with disabilities. Waits for social housing are unacceptably long.

“I have organised this summit to bring together the wide range of players involved in housing in North East Fife. It will be chance to debate, share information and discuss the way forward.

“There is active debate on the numbers of second homes and short term lets, on the numbers of students, on energy efficiency in homes, on rental costs, on where to locate new housing and the new legislation on the private rented sector. I am keen to explore all of these matters at the summit and I look forward to the discussion.”