By Andrew Jarret

Angus Housing Association yesterday said it will write to Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell MSP and Angus Council leader Bob Myles about derelict housing above shops in Mayfield Terrace, Arbroath.

AHA chairman Hazel Farquhar said it was time for Angus Council to accept its part of the blame in the saga.

The council is set to lose the part of a near £1m Communities Scotland grant that would have enabled completion of the final stage of the regeneration project—demolition of the flats above the shops.

Failure to reach legal agreements and problems regarding the firm chosen to carry out the demolition played a part, but the housing association believes Angus Council could have been more pro-active.

The involvement of the association’s committee of management in the debate follows a request from residents’ association ARCH, also a registered tenant organisation with the association. ARCH sought support for its campaign to have the derelict houses removed.

Angus Housing Association has been the key development partner in regeneration of the Cliffburn area since 2004.

However it has been “disappointed” that the partnership working on the estate seems to have ended as “Angus Council have not convened a partnership meeting since last October.”

The association claims this is despite an agreement reached with the council at the end of stock transfer discussions that there was still a huge challenge facing the estate, especially in identifying a means of improving community facilities.

Hazel Farquhar said they are “concerned and disappointed at the failure of Angus Council to spend the funding made available to them and deliver the removal of the eyesore at the Mayfield Terrace shops.”

She said it was a key problem identified by all partners more than five years ago. She added, “It is also the first view visitors and residents have of the estate, and this continuing blight puts the success of all that we and ARCH have achieved and invested at risk.

“It is also disappointing that recently the neighbourhood services convener, Councillor Jim Millar, has started playing politics with this issue.

“There is no doubt the time available to Angus Council to spend the government grant was easily enough, and that they must accept some of the blame,” she said.

“The council has known for nearly two years that the deadline for spending HERF (Housing Estate Regeneration Funding) grant was March 31, 2008, and that this could not be extended due to the imminent demise of Communities Scotland...

“Councillor Millar seems to be trying to deflect the criticism by asking our local MSP, Andrew Welsh, to support a call to the minister to extend the deadline that he knows will fail.

“Trying to deflect some of the blame on to Mr Welsh is ridiculous. Regardless of party politics, Mr Welsh has been a positive supporter of all the Cliffburn regeneration partners since its very outset.

“I personally signed the ARCH petition asking for the deadline for the grant to be extended. As chairman of Angus Housing Association I also know, however, that we have to work to strict deadlines for spending government funding.

“I therefore hope Angus Council will fulfil its obligations to the Cliffburn community and to other partners in the regeneration by funding the remainder of the project if necessary.

“To me, this means supporting ARCH’s view that the derelict houses must be removed and the shops re-roofed. This is especially important as Angus Council have already spent huge amounts of government grant money on environmental improvements which were always designed as complementary to the removal of this blight.”