Penniless council 'sacked' by tenants
From the The Bolton News, first published Sunday 26th Aug 2007.
FURIOUS council house tenants have given penniless local authority chiefs the boot.
Residents of Walkden and Little Hulton, who live in homes run by Salford Council, voted to switch ownership of the properties to a housing association.
They made the decision because broke town hall chiefs cannot afford to carry out essential repairs on their homes.
In the west of Salford tenants voted for their council homes to be transferred to the newly formed City West Housing Trust which will plough £604 million into improvements.
Just over half the tenants turned out to vote and of those 72.9 per cent were in favour of the move.
The handover will be complete by next summer and the not-for-profit trust is hoping to invest £604million over the next 30 years to carry out essential improvements.
It will involve half of Salford Council's 28,000 homes in areas which have not benefited from the huge regeneration of the inner-city. These include Walkden, Little Hulton, Clifton, Swinton, Eccles, Pendlebury, Irlam, and Cadishead.
In these areas, 48 per cent of council homes do not meet the Government's Decent Homes Standard. To reach the standard a property must be fully weatherproof, have a kitchen which is under 20 years old, and a bathroom under 30 years old.
The trust has already earmarked £1 million for children's play areas and street lighting and has said that community improvements will start soon.
Cllr Peter Connor, Salford City Council's lead member for housing, said: "We have always believed that any decision on whether or not to transfer homes from Salford City Council ownership should rest entirely with tenants.
"By voting 'yes' to transfer, tenants have secured millions of pounds of investment for their homes and communities that will result in the largest programme of improvement in social housing ever seen in Salford. It will not only benefit them, but their children and their children's children."
Gerry Corless, chairman of city West Housing Trust, added: "Now the hard work really begins. The next few months will be spent making sure everything is in place for when the transfer takes place next year. I recognise that tenants have taken a momentous decision, and it is up to City West Housing Trust to deliver the improvements they voted for."
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