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Council offers no additional financial assistance while homeowners remain without answers
RAAC homeowners in Tillicoultry have been dealt another blow by Clackmannanshire Council, with a new financial package issued to homeowners despite the meeting promised by Council Leader Councillor Ellen Forson still apparently having no confirmed date.
The latest correspondence, dated 23 July 2026, tells homeowners that, following a "thorough review and exploration of all available funding options", the Council is unable to provide any additional financial assistance towards the purchase of their properties.
For homeowners who have spent months waiting for answers, this is deeply disappointing.
It is particularly troubling because the Council has spent the last six months asking residents to wait while discussions regarding Scottish Government funding and potential additional assistance continued.
Now, before homeowners have even had the opportunity to sit down with elected members and senior officers to discuss the matter, they are being presented with what appears to be a final position.
A meeting was promised – but the offers have arrived first
On 8 July, following my open letter challenging the Council's handling of the RAAC crisis, Councillor Ellen Forson said that she believed it would be more constructive to bring everyone together rather than continue exchanging correspondence.
She stated:
"I hope you will understand that, rather than continuing to exchange correspondence, I believe it is now more constructive to bring everyone together so that homeowners can receive a full update and have the opportunity to ask questions directly."
She also said that she looked forward to a "positive and productive discussion."
Those words now feel increasingly hollow.
No meeting date has yet been confirmed, yet homeowners have now received letters setting out financial positions which appear to close down the possibility of additional assistance.
If the purpose of the proposed meeting was to allow homeowners to receive a full update and ask questions directly, why have important financial decisions been communicated before that meeting has even taken place?
Offers Are Suddenly Changing
There is another extraordinary development.
The latest offers do not appear to correspond consistently with the offers homeowners previously received.
One homeowner has reportedly been offered more than £13,500 above their original offer, while another has received an offer £5,000 lower.
This raises very serious questions about how these figures have been calculated.
If the Council has undertaken a fresh valuation exercise, homeowners deserve to know precisely what has changed.
If the Council has identified new information affecting property values, that information should be explained.
And if different homeowners are being treated differently, there needs to be a transparent and comprehensible explanation for those differences.
After everything residents have already experienced, the last thing they need is another set of figures that appear arbitrary or unexplained.
Incorrectly Reduced Valuations Remain Unresolved
This is particularly concerning for homeowners whose properties were previously assigned valuations they believe were incorrectly reduced.
Those issues have still not been properly resolved.
The emotional impact of this process cannot be underestimated.
Homeowners have already spent years living with uncertainty over the value of their homes and their future.
Some have received valuations they believe failed to properly reflect their circumstances.
Others have experienced the distress of seeing offers change while trying to make decisions about whether to sell.
In at least one case, a homeowner initiated the legal process to complete a sale after receiving what appeared to be a higher offer, only to find themselves confronted with the consequences of what appears to have been an error.
Yet there has been no meaningful apology and no satisfactory explanation.
These are not simply figures on a spreadsheet.
Behind every valuation is a family trying to make decisions about where they will live, how they will finance their future and whether they can finally escape the uncertainty created by RAAC.
The Latest Letter Still Fails to Answer Key Questions
The 23 July letter also fails to address several issues homeowners have repeatedly raised.
For example, it provides an estimated remediation cost of £34,689 for the property concerned, explicitly stating that this figure is excluding VAT.
Yet homeowners have been waiting for individual clarification of the VAT implications associated with their particular properties.
That information is critical when comparing a purchase offer against the alternative of remaining involved in remediation works.
The letter also makes no reference to the potential environmental retrofit grants previously discussed with homeowners by Council officers.
Mr Kevin Wells, Strategic Director for Place, had previously indicated that potential grant funding for environmental improvements could be available and might affect the costs faced by homeowners.
Yet that information has still not been properly explained or incorporated into the financial information now being provided.
Homeowners are therefore being asked to make potentially life-changing decisions without all of the information they have repeatedly requested.
From Demolition to Remediation – Then Grants and Now No Additional Payment
The shifting position over recent years has left homeowners increasingly suspicious about the way this process has been handled.
The proposed approach has changed repeatedly.
Homeowners have been told about demolition.
Then remediation packages became central to the discussion.
Then discussions turned towards Scottish Government funding.
Potential environmental retrofit grants were raised.
Homeowners were encouraged to wait while further funding options were explored.
There were discussions about the possibility of an additional fixed payment.
And now, after months of delay, homeowners are being told that no additional financial assistance is available.
The Council's latest letter states that it has "explored all available funding options" and is unable to offer any additional financial assistance.
But homeowners still have not been given a sufficiently detailed explanation of what was explored, what funding was considered, what became of the potential additional payment, or why the position has changed so dramatically.
Was the Delay Worth It?
This is perhaps the most fundamental question.
Homeowners were told to wait.
They waited.
During those additional months they continued to pay mortgages, insurance and other costs associated with properties they could not properly use.
They waited while the Council engaged with the Scottish Government.
They waited while the Council considered potential funding.
They waited while officers discussed possible additional assistance.
Now they are being told that there will be no additional payment.
What, then, was the purpose of the delay?
If there was never going to be any additional assistance, homeowners should have been told that clearly months ago.
If there was a genuine possibility of additional assistance, then the Council needs to explain what happened to that possibility.
The Council's Own Words Now Need to Be Matched by Action
Councillor Forson told homeowners that she was committed to ensuring communication was "as clear and timely as possible".
She also said that bringing homeowners together would allow them to receive a full update and ask questions directly.
Yet the Council has now issued further financial correspondence before that meeting has taken place.
The latest letter also warns that remediation costs, which the Council says have been held at a static price for an extended period, cannot be maintained indefinitely. It states that the Council may therefore need to consider establishing an owners' association to progress the works.
For homeowners, this creates yet another layer of uncertainty.
They are being asked to make decisions while important questions remain unanswered and while the Council's own position has changed repeatedly.
Homeowners Deserve Better
It is difficult to describe the emotional impact of this process.
These families did not choose to have RAAC in their homes.
They did not choose to lose the use or value of their properties.
They did not choose to spend years living with uncertainty.
And they certainly did not choose to incur thousands of pounds in additional costs while waiting for public authorities to determine what would happen next.
What homeowners are asking for is not unreasonable.
They want accurate valuations.
They want clear information about VAT.
They want transparency about available grants and funding.
They want an explanation of why offers differ so substantially from previous figures.
They want an explanation and, where appropriate, an apology when errors have caused distress and financial consequences.
And they want the Council to recognise the financial burden created by the prolonged process.
Most importantly, they want to be treated with dignity.
We Still Hope the Meeting Happens
The UK RAAC Campaign Group remains willing to engage constructively with Clackmannanshire Council.
We hope the promised meeting will be arranged soon and that it will provide the genuine opportunity for homeowners to put their questions directly to elected members and senior officers.
But the meeting must not simply become another stage in a process of delay.
Homeowners have waited long enough.
They deserve answers now.
Wilson Chowdhry, Chair of the UK RAAC Campaign Group, said:
"The latest development is deeply distressing for homeowners. They have waited months while being told that discussions were taking place about funding and potential additional assistance, only to receive what appears to be a final offer before the meeting they were promised has even been arranged. Even more concerning is that the figures now being presented appear to differ significantly from previous offers, with some homeowners facing increases of more than £13,500 while another has seen an offer reduced by £5,000. Where figures have changed, homeowners deserve a full explanation.
"The Council has repeatedly asked these families to be patient, but patience comes at a financial and emotional cost. Homeowners have continued paying mortgages and insurance while dealing with the uncertainty of properties whose values remain disputed. Some have even instructed solicitors based on offers that subsequently appear to have been incorrect, yet no meaningful apology or explanation has been provided.
"Councillor Forson's promise of clear and timely communication now rings particularly hollow when homeowners are receiving major financial decisions before the promised meeting has even been scheduled. We do not want confrontation. We want transparency, fairness and accountability. These homeowners have been through enough. They deserve better than shifting deadlines, changing offers and unanswered questions."
Together, we continue to stand with RAAC families and campaign for a fair resolution.
The RAAC crisis is not just about concrete—it is about accountability.
And we are far from finished.
📧 Email: wilson@aasecurity.co.uk
📢 Twitter/X: https://x.com/WilsonChowdhry
#RAACScandal #Petition2113 #ScottishParliament #SupportRAACVictims #EndTheSilence
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