of building housing associations and co-operatives that are controlled and run by the local community.
To me that is a great shame, because the whole purpose of social housing in Scotland is to ensure that there is a social element to the basic commodity of housing. That ethos was the very genesis of community housing associations, yet it appears to have been forgotten. Reidvale was set up in 1975 by a committed band of residents dubbed the Bathgate Street Mafia led by stalwart activist John Butterly to halt the planned demolition of the tenements.
The vulture that is circling goes by the name of Places for People Scotland, but the reality is it is merely an offshoot of the enormous England-based parent company, Places for People, which currently operates in Scotland as Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association, predominantly in Edinburgh.