Perth and Kinross Council leader calls for help for building industry

Oct 2 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A UNITED front is needed to help the crisis-ridden building industry, it was claimed yesterday.

Perth and Kinross Council leader Ian Miller is backing Scottish Government calls for an acceleration of funding to keep firms afloat as the recession continues to bite.

He said yesterday: “It is clear that in Perth and Kinross, the one area of our local economy which has suffered most from the current economic downturn is the housing construction industry.

“At a recent meeting of the economic forum which I chair, the Scottish Building Federation provided us with an excellent presentation which clearly explained the critical situation they are facing.

“As a result of that we agreed that every possible effort must be made to ensure that the industry is maintained through the present crisis so that when the housing market improves we are able to achieve a resumption of construction as soon as the market situation recovers.”

Councillor Miller said the “policy priority” in Perth and Kinross is to support the provision of affordable housing.

“I sincerely hope that everyone will be able to support John Swinney’s initiative to accelerate capital funding,” he added.

“The danger in not doing so is that there will be insufficient capacity left in the industry by the time the economy recovers.

“That would adversely affect the Perth and Kinross economy to a much greater extent than almost any other area of Scotland.”

Michael Levack, of the Scottish Building Federation, said: “The accelerated capital expenditure included in this year’s Scottish Budget was badly needed and is helping to sustain the construction industry through some particularly lean times.”