Council Leader welcomes flexibility in use of Council tax income from empty and second homes

The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy confirmed this week he has agreed to The Highland Council’s request for flexibility in the use of Council Tax income from empty and second homes.

Commenting on this agreement the Leader of The Highland Council, Cllr Margaret Davidson said: “This is very welcome news and I appreciate the positive response from the Deputy First Minister. This will enable us to use £2.6m to support Highland Council’s statutory work on homelessness as part of our proposals to deliver a balance budget.”

As part of Highland Council’s budget, the Council Leader wrote to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy to request a one-off relaxation on the conditions on the use of income generated from Council Tax on second homes. This income is restricted to funding affordable housing; however flexibility was being sought for one year to fund revenue costs associated with the Council’s statutory homelessness functions.