09 January 2004
Another London council has run into trouble over plans to run its housing through an arm's-length management organisation.
Votes cast last month by tenants in the London Borough of Camden have still to be counted after the validity of the ballot was challenged in the High Court by the anti-stock transfer group Defend Council Housing. As the new legal term does not start until January 12, it could be up to four weeks before a decision is announced.
According to Defend Council Housing, Camden council failed to conduct a fair and balanced debate prior to the ballot. DCH also challenged the neutrality of the ballot question, which talked of setting up a 'council-owned' Almo that would improve housing in the borough.
DCH spokesman Alan Walter said it was wrong to suggest that housing could be improved only through an Almo. 'The issue is how quickly these improvements are carried out,' he said.
The council, which denies DCH's allegations, is waiting to study the judge's decision before commenting. If it loses the case, it may hold a new ballot.
DCH, buoyed by recent 'no' votes in stock transfer ballots in Islington in London and Stroud in Gloucestershire, targeted Camden to see whether it could persuade tenants to reject Almo plans for the first time.
In Islington, residents on the Tollington estate rejected transfer while tenants elsewhere in the borough supported an Almo. But this result is also being challenged.
Tenants' groups claim it is wrong to include Tollington in an Almo when the estate was only ever balloted over a transfer. The complaints are being investigated by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
PFjan2004
