The proposal that south cambs district council has been working on for over a year was put to its tenants in early June. The result was:
Yes: 27.4%
No: 72.6%
Turnout: 73.4%
So the council remains the landlord rather than transferring properties to a housing association set up for the purpose - South Cambs Village Homes. Some people say too much money was spent on the exercise. But there was a lot of information to get across, and the methodology was laid down by the government. I think tenants took account of the current economic climate and decided to stay put - that was the impression I was getting in the last few months as the recession worsened.
The council's reason for doing this - which I supported - was that this was the only way to avoid having to pay half of every pound raised in rents to the Treasury, which is the current set up. I do think that the new organisation would have benefitted the tenants - certainly the independent members of the new board were impressive. I will continue to ensure that issues raised by council tenants in this area are dealt with by the council's housing team and resolved.
No comments:
Post a Comment