Housing Minister still refuses to reopen housing construction sites

22 May 2020

The Scottish Conservatives are demanding that the Housing Minister, Kevin Stewart ‘pulls his finger out’ as he continues to refuse to state when housing construction sites will reopen.

Graham Simpson, Scottish Conservative shadow local government and communities secretary has made repeated attempts to find out why the SNP government isn’t letting the housing construction industry reopen immediately and when they might.

In the Scottish Parliament yesterday the Housing Minister, Kevin Stewart failed to explain if the new phased approach to easing lockdown meant that housing construction could restart.

Again today, in a letter to Mr Simpson, Mr Stewart has stated that “non-essential construction” must remain closed and he refuses to say when the stages of the phased construction restart plan will begin.

There are currently 6,000 nearly-finished homes that could be completed while observing social distancing measures.

Apart from the financial cost to the companies involved, this unnecessary wait is causing 6,000 families extreme stress and frustration, not to mention financial cost also.

Graham Simpson, Scottish Conservative shadow local government and communities secretary said:

“The Housing Minister has got to pull his finger out.

“Despite repeated questioning he refuses to tell us when housing construction sites can reopen.

“Construction sites have opened in the rest of the UK, they can easily observe social distancing measures, there is no reason they shouldn’t be open.

“Not only is the SNP’s position completely illogical it is extremely frustrating for 6,000 families waiting to get into their homes.

“The SNP’s unnecessary delay on reopening these sites is causing many people unacceptable financial hardship.”