Scottish regulator finds serious failings at council’s Gypsy and Traveller site

The SHR said the council had accepted its findings and was “working constructively” to address the residents’ concerns and deliver necessary improvements.

Fife has since progressed “a number of remedial actions” and improvements to the decant site and has begun redevelopment work on the main site.

George Walker, chair of the SHR, said, “Bringing a serious concern to us is an important way for social housing tenants to tell us about serious problems they are experiencing, where their landlord regularly and repeatedly fails to achieve the regulatory requirements for social housing and this failure affects a group of the social landlord’s tenants.”

He said the SHR will continue to engage with Fife Council as it works to address the failings and make improvements.

John Mills, head of housing services at Fife Council, said: “We recognise that there have been significant delays in the delivery of this major housing improvement project at our Tarvit Mill site, near Cupar.

“The council’s housing, property and building services are driving forward the improvements so that we can rehouse tenants in new chalet accommodation by April 2025.

“We’re working closely with tenants to keep them updated of progress. The regulator will also meet with the council and tenants to ensure that progress continues to be made.”

The findings came as the SHR published the outcome of an inquiry into tenant and Gypsy and Traveller participation in Scottish social housing.

Landlords and tenants responded to a survey carried out by Tpas Scotland on behalf of the regulator.

The landlords that responded to the survey said they used a range of tenant participation methods which were tailored to tenants’ needs.

Tenants who took part also noted that landlords had introduced more flexible and informal ways to enable tenants and tenant groups to participate.

Some landlords acknowledged the challenges to participation. But Gypsy and Traveller focus group feedback suggested these challenges were “not always recognised or fully addressed”.

It also said that many of the landlords that responded were not aware of the level of success of their approach.

Helen Shaw, director of regulation at the SHR, said: “Both the landlords and the tenants and residents who took part said landlords use a range of ways to reach out to tenants and service users, including face-to-face and digital options to better meet needs.

“And both groups noted that building trust is key to successful participation. But we also found that some landlords could do more to ensure they understand the needs of Gypsies/Travellers, the barriers they face, and to enable them to better assess how successful their tenant participation strategy is.”