Bridgnorth Tenants Opt to Retain Housing Stock

12.00.00am GMT Thu 2nd Dec 2004

On 1 December 2004, after more than a year of discussions and consultations, Bridgnorth District Council voted to retain its council housing stock, in line with a "test of opinion" which involved about 20% of tenants and leaseholders.

The Federation of Tenants' and Residents' Association, which had been closely involved in the exercise throughout, came out strongly in favour of transfer to a locally-based housing association, but their recommendations were not followed by sufficient of their members.

The second newsletter from the Tenant Participatory Advisory Service (TPAS) who were appointed as the Independent Tenant Advisor (ITA), said the Council would consider all recommendations - staff, steering group, Tenants Federation, and tenants. All the former supported Large Scale Voluntary Transfer (LSVT), or at least recognised the benefits of Transfer, under the loaded conditions set by this government. It was clear from the financial assessment, and the need to provide future social housing in the District, that Retention was NOT the Best Option for the Council or its tenants.

The newsletter said, "Both the options have pros and cons." It was not clear what the pros were of Retention, as they will work against the best interests of the District in the medium to long term. Jam today, but no jam tomorrow. Even the Study Trip to Wrekin Housing Trust was reported as "interesting and informative" but gave no indication of the benefits or otherwise of Transfer. The Transfer option allows ALL housing revenues to be retained for re-investment in services rather than paying millions to the government each year. Housing and Council Tax benefits would be paid by the government and not by all the other tenants.

A large number of tenants were not contacted due to the short timescale, and a sizeable number were undecided, yet no effort was made to influence their decision one way or another, presumably on the grounds of being independent, impartial, and objective. So in a way, the Council has shot itself in the foot by claiming that the Test of Opinion more closely accords with their new corporate priority of "putting the customer first" even if it works against the best interests of the Council and its tenants.

In the report to the Council, TPAS only asked that the Test of Opinion was "taken into consideration" when making a decision on the options, yet the selection criteria were grossly distorted by weighting the "Tenants Preferred Option" ridiculously high, compared to Affordable Housing and Financial Benefits. A door knocking exercise had attracted 668 additional comments, of which less than one third preferred retention, and a greater number had yet to decide. This exercise showed less than 50% in favour of retention, compared to a "combined" figure of 65% by the ITA.

Of those consulted, the profile of ages was given. There was no response from 18-25 year-olds, who would be the people most likely to need or benefit from affordable housing; and a 56% response from tenants over 60 who one would expect to be the most resistant to change. The report also showed that many tenants supported Retention, provided that additional resources were made available to meet enhanced services and the aspirational improvements to the housing stock. This will not be a practical reality if the financial consultants' report is to be believed.

A Stock Transfer decision by Bridgnorth District Council would not have been the end of the road. The tenants would have had the right to choose their future Registered Social Landlord (RSL); they would have been able to negotiate the best deal for support services, before being asked to vote on an "offer document" and having a greater say in the management of their housing.

However, the Council were concerned about the cost of any further work (having already spent £168,000 on this exercise), so took the easy way out to get the decision "signed off" by the Government Office for the West Midlands, and avoid any further expense.