More New Affordable Homes, More New Woodland
New figures have revealed that, under the SNP, Scotland had the highest number of affordable homes per head of the population than anywhere else in the UK.
It comes as another set of statistics also show Scotland to be leading the way when it comes to tree planting in the UK.
On the former, Scotland had 13.9 homes per 10,000 of the population in 2021/22 – as compared to 9.7 in Tory run-England and 8.0 in Labour-run Wales. 124,000 social and affordable homes have been delivered by the SNP in government, with a further commitment made to delivering 110,000 more by 2032 – at least 70% of which will be for social rent and 10% in Scotland’s rural and island communities.
In stark contrast, Scottish Labour built only 6 council houses over four years during their last government – failing to capitalise on the opportunities devolution brought for investment in social housing.
Where new woodland creation is concerned, nearly 13,000 hectares were created in the UK in 2022/23 – but Scotland only accounted for 8,200 of these. Scotland now consists of over 1,490,000 hectares of woodland area.
The SNP Scottish Government has taken a number of steps to help meet Scotland’s ambitious target of planting 36 million new trees each year, including the introduction of a £150 million fund to support planting targets and tree nurseries.
The SNP has welcomed these figures and highlighted the important role forests play in our climate change ambitions. Scotland’s forests absorb almost 10% of our gross greenhouse gas emissions – they play a vital role in our journey towards meeting our ambitious climate targets.
GRAEME
These are two very positive sets of figures which show Scotland to be leading the way on diverse policy areas under the SNP.
This Scottish Government is one properly invested in tackling the challenges facing our climate and natural environment as well as those around the matter of housing.
I am proud of the SNP’s record on both delivery of affordable homes – not to mention going further to safeguard council homes than any other UK government – and on reforesting our beautiful country.
The people of Scotland deserve a country where everyone has a warm, safe place to call home and where land management and climate action is taken seriously – and that is what the SNP will continue to work towards.
