Defeat is no real surprise (From Gazette Series)

Defeat is no real surprise

SIR - It is a pity that Denise Gyllenspetz chooses to make a personalised attack on me in last week's Gazette, indicative of the way in which those who favoured the transfer conducted themselves throughout. No wonder they were overwhelmingly defeated.

I would have thought that by now they might be showing a little humility if not giving an apology for the £600,000 that they have cost all the council tax payers of this district.

The only point that I can agree with her is that the government has a clear objective to ensure that all council homes reach an acceptable standard by 2010. The rest of her rant is either untrue or entirely based on false supposition.

The truth is that once I made it clear that I would not along with the cosy cartel who were intent on selling off the stock come what may I was totally excluded from the process. This included actively preventing me from communicating with the tenants, meaning that I had to go to extraordinary lengths to express my point of view.

If I had been allowed to have my say, I would have told them to stop employing consultants who told them what they wanted to hear and independent housing advisers who were neither independent nor capable of any understanding of housing and actually listen to their own tenants. If they had have done so, they would have avoided this charade and saved a great deal of money in the process.

I am more than happy to help find an acceptable way forward provided all the tenants are involved this time and not just a selected minority as I said so to the leader of the council when he asked my opinion in advance of the results of the ballot.

I am still waiting to hear from Stroud District Council but I await in expectation.

David Drew, MP for Stroud, Lansdown, Stroud