Homes stay with council (From Gazette Series)

Homes stay with council

COUNCIL houses in Dursley, Cam and Wotton-under-Edge are to remain under the reigns of Stroud District Council, it has been unanimously agreed.

At a full meeting of the council, members decided to retain the authority's housing stock - for the time being at least.

The decision puts a stop to the sale of the council's 5,200 homes to housing association Community Gateway.

But despite the move, which will see homes remain in council control until at least 2012, councillors have been warned that the possibility of a housing transfer could rear its head again.

Cllr John Jeffreys, cabinet member for housing, said the sale of the houses, which could earn the council more than £20 million, would be the only way to ensure all homes attained the required standard.

He added: "The only solution we have is large-scale voluntary transfer - but unfortunately, part of the element is that it requires a ballot from tenants and we have a clear expression from tenants that they do not wish to go through that process."

Previous consultations in 2001 and 2003 showed that a majority of council tenants were against transferring to a housing association and wished to keep the council as their landlord.

At the meeting at Ebley Mill, members from all parties spoke out against the lack of tenants' participation - only 35 percent were represented by various groups - and called for more action to be taken to get tenants to take an interest in the future of their homes.

Cllr Charlie Burling (Lab, Cainscross) said: "Only a third of Stroud District tenants are involved in any way at the moment.

"Working with tenants in a proactive way can pay huge dividends in terms of getting a better-managed stock and improving the environment where people live."

Despite voting in favour of stock retention, Labour deputy leader Cllr Mattie Ross (Lab, Stonehouse) said that those working towards a sale of all council houses in the region would be knocked back by the decision.

Leader of the council Cllr Chas Fellows (Con, Chalford) said: "There is a great deal of concern about tenant participation. I do agree that this will not go away.

"I hope that tenants, councillors and officers will now have a period of reflection to do further work to engage tenants."