Cole-Hamilton: SNP repeatedly cancelled RAAC meetings despite increasing threat

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today questioned the effectiveness of the SNP government’s approach to the dangerous building material RAAC as he revealed that the Scottish Government have cancelled meetings with him to discuss the issue twice, with a promise to rearrange never being followed through by ministers.

In September last year, Mr Cole-Hamilton reached out to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice to arrange a meeting about RAAC, following up on an offer that was made by the Cabinet Secretaries in response to a question from Cole-Hamilton. It took the government more than a month to respond with suggested dates. The government then cancelled the meeting twice and despite indicating in December that they would be back in touch to suggest rearranged dates, this has never happened.

East Lothian and West Lothian councils have indicated that the combined total for addressing RAAC in their local authorities could be more than £80 million. Dundee University have also warned that replacing concrete in university buildings across Scotland could cost millions. After discovering RAAC in at least 14 fire stations, the Chief Fire Officer asked the Scottish Government for £70 million to fix the problem. This was denied.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

"I desperately want to get answers for the doctors, nurses, teachers and council tenants who know or suspect that this concrete is above them.

“For almost a year now, my party has been calling for a fund that will support public authorities in addressing RAAC, but it seems the SNP would rather look the other way.

“We still don’t have a definitive list of where RAAC is present and there hasn’t been a single penny of dedicated support to help public authorities remove it.

“All of this leaves people feeling incredibly fearful of the roofs above their heads."