North East city deal chiefs will write to the Scottish Government amid “frustration” over unlocking a £20 million housing fund promised by the SNP in 2016.
Members of the Aberdeen City Region Deal committee heard at least 10 applications for housebuilding cash have been turned down by Scottish Government officials.
The government launched a £20m housing fund for the north-east in 2016 as part of the 10-year City Region Deal — but it has never been spent.
Councillors have now sounded the alarm as the fund only has one year left to run.
And council officers have been asking the Scottish Government “annually” for how to obtain any money from the fund.
There has been no guide as to what qualifies for the Housing Infrastructure Fund, which is the model used to hand out cash under the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding.
Aberdeen official David Dunne said £20m could pay for 200 houses, and the city council had three applications pushed back by government.
Aberdeenshire councillor Gillian Owen said the local authority has had applications for housing at Balmedie, Blackdog, Ellon, Fraserburgh, Mintlaw, Greenferns and Peterhead all knocked back.
It follows a meeting between Torry Raac campaigners and SNP housing minister Paul McLennan last week.
Organised and chaired by Liam Kerr, the Scottish Conservative put forward his idea for using the unspent £20m to top up “meagre” offers from ACC to private homeowners affected by the Raac crisis.
The North East MSP said: “The members of the city deal board have every reason to be on high alert about this housing fund.
“We knew that not a jot has been spent in almost 10 years. But people will be shocked to find that more than 10 developments have been binned by the Scottish Government, and no one can understand why.
“Aberdeen is in a housing crisis. That is only going to get worse when demolition starts at Balnagask when dozens of families will be in an unwinnable situation as the SNP council and ministers try to spin their way out of coughing up.
“This £20m would go a long way to getting a fair deal for the people of Torry, and supplement a meagre offer for many from the council. The fact of the matter is that it’s about to disappear into the ether. Councillors Allard, Radley and McLellan may have been caught napping on this, but they would do well to support my idea for getting it spent now.”
