Housing transfer vote: It's no (From Echo)

Housing transfer vote: It's no

9:40am Thursday 20th March 2008

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A BID by Castle Point Council to sell off its housing has been decisively rejected by tenants.

The council, which spent £250,000 promoting the vote, now faces a funding headache.

It says it may have to save £300,000 a year from the housing budget over the next five years to fund improvements required by the Government's decent homes standard guidelines.

The authority had hoped to transfer its 1,700 properties to housing association Swan.

But tenants voted two to one against being taken over by the housing association, despite a series of promises including new kitchens and bathrooms.

The costly process, which taxpayers have had to fund, included a glossy brochure and specially-commissioned film that outlined all the benefits that Swan said tenants would enjoy.

Council is left reeling after transfer rejection

CASTLE Point Council was left reeling after the borough's tenants resolutely rejected a takeover by a housing association.

Despite a concerted campaign to woo tenants into opting for a transfer of their 1,700 council homes to Swan Housing Association, which cost the council £250,000 - some of which was offset by contributions from Swan - more than 66 per cent chose to remain under the control of the authority.

Tenants failed to be swayed by frequent visits from Swan officials, council staff and councillors, as well as an 87-page glossy brochure and a DVD promising them a range of benefits, including new kitchens and bathrooms.

They also ignored threats from the council that it would not be able to afford to bring properties up to the Government's required decent homes standard, and that it would have to sack housing staff.

The authority must now look at other ways of funding repairs and the maintenance programme over the next five years.

Announcing the result of the four-week ballot yesterday, council leader Pam Challis said: "This has always been about tenants having the final say in what should happen to their homes.

"Throughout the consultation programme, we have made it clear to tenants the amount of money the council is able to invest in its housing is limited by central Government spending policies that are beyond our control."

John Synnuck, Swan Housing Group chief executive, said: "We are obviously disappointed with the result.

"However, we have been working with Castle Point Council for more than ten years.

"We will continue to work with the council on issues relating to affordable housing in the borough."

The vote, organised by Electoral Reform Services, showed 66.4 per cent of tenants who took part were in favour of staying with the council.

Tenants celebrate campaign victory

CAMPAIGNERS against the transfer of the borough's housing stock were celebrating a resounding victory.

Castle Point Tenants Against Transfer said the two-to-one vote against the selling of council homes to Swan Housing was the group's second triumph against transfer.

It follows a vote in 1994 when more than 80 per cent of tenants rejected a transfer.

Mary Windsor, a spokeswoman for the group, said: "It goes without saying we are delighted with the result of the ballot. A no' vote is no more than what we expected, given the genuine responses we received from people.

"We are pleased our hard work has been rewarded and the tenants showed by their vote just how they feel, despite the views to the contrary of both Swan and the council."

Some pundits are blaming the result on the council's decision to replace an independent tenants' representative halfway through the process and to ignore the result of a consultation exercise, which showed tenants preferred Chelmer Housing Association.

Castle Point MP Bob Spink said: "The council handled the transfer badly. I supported it once I had received the necessary undertakings, because it would have given tenants more say in their future, more certain maintenance and enabled us to get the 200 or so additional social housing units we so desperately need in the borough."

Dave Blackwell, leader of the Canvey Independent Party said: "They have shot themselves in the foot and it has cost council taxpayers dearly. They badgered tenants too much and the more they intensified their efforts, the more tenants disliked it.

"The residents I spoke to said they were happy with their homes and the council. It was a case of the devil you know'."

David Marchant, the council's chief executive, said: "We had to rigidly stick to guidelines. It wasn't a process of our own making.

"It is disappointing for tenants because the evidence for transfer to Swan was overwhelming, but this is not now going to be achieved and that's a shame. We will continue to give back £1.8million of tenants' rents to the Government for them to spend in other parts of the country.

"The choice of Chelmer was made by a group who were representing the tenants at that time."

Cash crisis may lead to staff cuts

CASTLE Point Council faces a financial crisis after a majority of the borough's tenants voted against a sell-off of council homes.

The authority estimates it now faces a projected shortfall of £1.2million in the cost of bringing all its housing up to the minimum standards required over the next five years.

The council must have its properties up to the decent homes standard by 2010, but had also intended to improve them beyond that requirement as part of a rolling five-year programme.

In the run-up to the vote, the council warned tenants it would only be able to invest £11.4million over five years in improving homes, against Swan's projected £23million investment.

It also said staff redundancies might follow as the council looked for ways to cut its costs.

Following yesterday's result, the council immediately warned it would have to make savings of about £300,000 each year in other housing services to make sure its housing revenue account did not "fall into an illegal deficit".

Council leader Pam Challis said: "We now face a series of difficult decisions about savings which will have a significant influence on the range and quality of housing services we can afford to deliver.

"We remain committed to pursuing further efficiency improvements and, in particular, working with tenants to make the most of our limited resources for housing."

Wendy Goodwin, councillor responsible for housing, has been involved in the transfer bid for the past two years.

She said: "It is a very disappointing result for the tenants who voted for the transfer. There won't be any immediate effect, but over time there will be an impact.

"The circumstances haven't changed and everything we have been saying about restrictions on finance are still there."

Mrs Goodwin said there were no legal restrictions on when the council could hold another ballot, but she ruled the prospect out for the immediate future.

She added: "There will have to be discussions now. As far as redundancies are concerned, I can't say exactly what's going to happen.

"Obviously we wouldn't hold another ballot straight away, but that's an option we will discuss."

What the law says

The council is required by the Government to bring all its homes up to the decent homes standard by 2010.

The standard says homes must be:

• Fit for habitation
• In reasonable repair
• Equipped with reasonably modern facilities
• Provide a reasonable degree of warmth.

There is money, but the problem is they can't touch it

A tenant who voted against the transfer said he had heard it all before and urged others to sit tight.

Albert Howard, 84, of First Avenue, Canvey, said: "This result is very good and I am very pleased.

"They have been threatening staff cuts for years. There is money, but the problem is they can't touch it.

"It's up to councillors to try to change that and, if they can't, then they should get help from our MP, Bob Spink. They have just got to find ways of using the money."

Mr Howard added: "I don't think people should be unduly concerned because if they don't maintain the housing stock properly, they will be in a lot of trouble."

I am very worried now about our housing stock

Richard Burgess, of Temple Wood, Hadleigh, helped to guide tenants through the pros and cons of the transfer proposals.

He would have been appointed to the board, which would have been formed to run a not-for-profit local housing association under the umbrella of the Swan Housing Association.

Mr Burgess said: "I am gutted. It was unexpected because during the consultation process we spoke to a lot of people and I would say about 80 per cent of them said they were in favour.

"I am very worried about our housing stock now because there is already a deficit in the housing budget and the council will have to make savings by cutting staff."

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