Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

With reference to the minute of the special meeting of Aberdeen City Council of 21 October 2025, the Council had before it the wording of the written request for this special Council meeting which had been signed by 12 members in accordance with Standing Order 8.2.2:-

“Welcomes the belated opportunity to bid for £10m of additional financial support linked to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme in order to generate financial headroom to help address RAAC at Balnagask”. 

Councillor Malik moved, seconded by Councillor Watson:-

            That the Council -

(1)      welcomes the belated support for RAAC at Balnagask from the Scottish Government noting the last correspondence before this announcement between the Council and the Minister appears to be on the 28^th of July 2025;

(2)      agrees the belated support comes less than 24 hours after a meeting of Aberdeen City Council where the SNP led Administration again refused to support a motion to engage with the Scottish Government to provide additional funding streams to bridge the gap between the loss of value due to the pressure of RAAC and the pre RAAC valuations, which may support a just and equitable settlement;

(3)      regrets the decision to demolish roughly 350 homes at Balnagask;

(4)      instructs the Executive Director - Families and Communities to represent the Council in discussions with the Scottish Government and bring forward appropriate project proposals for inclusion in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme that will facilitate the release of the belated funds referred to above as soon as possible and provide a fully costed report to Council as soon as practicable. This will include compensating the RAAC homeowners to market value plus a payment to reflect the impact RAAC has had on the value of their homes;

(5)      instructs the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to engage with RAAC homeowners on discussions with Scottish Government;

(6)      notes the intention to initially allocate an additional £10m from the HRA Capital programme to complement the belated £10m from the Scottish government to fix the roofs on all homes affected by RAAC as part of the budget setting process;

(7)      agrees to set up a cross-party working group (numbers and composition to be agreed by Council) led by the Convener of the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee on how best the Council can achieve the position of retaining Council Houses, supporting owner/occupiers and ensuring that appropriate renovation of Council homes affected by RAAC are included within the HRA budget 26/27 and beyond; and

(8)      in addition to the now voluntary acquisition offer to home owners:

·           The Council will pay any professional fees reasonably incurred for property advice.

·           The Council would also cover any reasonably incurred legal fees.

·           In addition, home owners would receive a home loss payment equal to 10% of their current property's market value.

·           The Council will also meet other reasonable costs, such as moving expenses and early mortgage surrender fees.

Councillor Brooks moved as an amendment, seconded by Councillor Kusznir:-

            That the Council -

(1)      acknowledges the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.