Monday November 24th 2025
Kerry Macintosh with campaigners from across Scotland outside the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday, 18 June ahead of their petition going before MSPs.
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
Housing minister Mairi McAllan will meet West Lothian home owners affected by crumbling concrete next Wednesday.
Local campaigner Kerry Macintosh told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) she had received an email confirming the meeting for 3 December.
Kerry, who is vice-chair of the national UK RAAC campaign, wants an assurance that the minister will meet her, and campaign chairman Wilson Chowdhry on the day. “We want a face to face”, she said this week.
And local home owners have also written to the Scottish Government asking for assurances that the minister and officials will meet the UK RAAC campaign leaders.
RAAC, or Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete, was a building material used in the 1960s and 70s. The concrete is porous and eventually disintegrates in wet conditions.
West Lothian has hundreds of homes affected by RAAC as well as public buildings including schools and community centres. The council faces a £50 million bill to rebuild one of its largest schools – St Kentigern’s in Blackburn. Despite requests the Scottish Government has so far refused to provide funds.
Speaking to the LDRS Kerry said she had been unimpressed by answers given last week when the Housing Minister met home owners in Tillicoultry.
After that meeting Kerry said she thought home owners had been “made to feel thankful “for the meeting with Ms McAllan. It was a sentiment echoed by the local Labour MP.
Kerry added: “I don’t think she understands what home owners are going through. The Scottish Government keeps pushing it onto the UK government. It’s a blame game.
”I’m really sick of hearing it. I’m fed up with the way politicians are treating people who have been pushed into financial hardship and turmoil.”
She reiterated her previous call for the First Minister, John Swinney, to meet the campaigners, and to hear first hand the stories of the financial and emotional stress homeowners are facing.
Ms McAllan assured the LDRS that there would be face to face meetings with homeowners in West Lothian and with the council.
Kerry plans a protest at the venue- yet to be named- ahead of Ms McAllan’s arrival so the minister is left in no doubt about the strength of the campaign, and the mounting anger at the apparent lack of political will to deliver a solution.
She told the LDRS: “Money has been promised in Aberdeen, but that’s all. There are still no details, nothing has been confirmed. I’m just very, very disappointed in the Scottish Parliament.”
The only politicians who have won the support of Kerry and other campaigners are those serving on the Petitions Committee in Holyrood.
As the LDRS reported in October the petition, one of hundreds before MSPs, had faced being closed because of time constraints of the current parliament, which faces an election next May.
MSPs agreed with a suggestion from Fergus Ewing, an Independent that the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee use the remaining time to encourage new discussions between London and Edinburgh.
Mr Ewing told that meeting: “So because there’s a new cabinet secretary and because there’s a new Secretary of State for Scotland, Mairi McAllan and Douglas Alexander, why don’t they just meet and come up with a solution.
“This can’t go on forever and if it does then it just brings into disrepute the Scottish Parliament and the UK government”
Speaking after the Tillicoultry meeting between residents and the Minister the local Labour MP Brian Leishman said: “These residents have been out of their home for two years. They have no place to call home.”
Speaking on footage shown on the UKRAAC campaign chair’s blog, Mr Leishman said: “They have been badly let down by the council and badly let down by the Scottish Government who have decided not to spend some of the record settlement from the UK Labour government to sort this scandal. The bottom line is housing is a devolved matter and the SNP have turned their back on the residents here. Get this sorted.”
Responding to the LDRS, Ms McAllan said: “I’m looking forward to meeting with local RAAC campaigners in West Lothian in December – I recognise this is a worrying time for them. This will provide an opportunity for me to hear directly from local residents who have RAAC in their homes and to better understand their concerns and issues. Importantly, it will also give the West Lothian council an opportunity to discuss what support they are offering to people affected by RAAC in their area.
“We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to make available a dedicated RAAC remediation fund but they have failed to do so.
“In the meantime, we continue to work with local authorities across Scotland as they respond to the impact of RAAC in their areas and I will consider requests for flexibility within existing budgets if made.”
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