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The Government told Local Authorities who are still landlords that they must fully review their options for the future ownership and management of their housing by July 2005. They had to follow strict guidelines and everything they did was scrutinised.
The Government expects every Local Authority landlord to meet the Decent Homes Standard by 2010. This is a basic standard that means all properties are warm, watertight, and have reasonable facilities. We can meet this standard well before 2010.
We consulted with our tenants to find out what they wanted, over and above the Decent Homes Standard – this is called the Babergh Standard. A total of 1,560 tenants completed survey forms to help us establish what this standard should be.
We set up a Stock Options Appraisal Steering Group last year, made up of Council Members, Tenants’ Forum Members, Council Officers and Consultants. The Tenants’ Forum appointed its own Independent Tenants’ Advisor, PS Consultants, as required by the Government, to help them ensure that all our Tenants were fully informed and consulted about the process.
Our tenants received newsletters which detailed the options available to them. The Options were:
- Option 1
– To continue as we are, with Babergh District Council remaining the landlord.
- Option 2
– To set up an independent organisation to manage our housing, but continue with Babergh as our landlord – this is called an Arms’ Length Management Organisation, or ALMO.
- Option 3
– To develop a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) with financial institutions and contractors to tackle housing problems.
- Option 4
– To transfer all the housing stock to a new, or an existing, Housing Association that would own and manage it all – this is the Stock Transfer Option.
The Steering Group, having investigated all the options, ruled out Option 2 (because it was only an option if we had difficulty meeting the Decent Homes Standard), and Option 3 (because we have no seriously neglected stock to worry about), which left a straight choice between retaining the stock, so that Babergh stays our landlord, or transferring the stock to a Housing Association. The second option meant more money would be available to pay for everything that tenants said they would like in the survey, but it also meant the biggest changes.
So, at the end of 2004, we held a Tenants’ Test of Opinion. Babergh tenants were asked whether they wanted Babergh to keep its council housing, or whether to transfer its stock. A total of 1679 (49%) tenants responded, and 1640 of them said they wanted Babergh District Council to stay as their landlord – that’s 98% of those who responded, and 45% of all tenants. Only 39 tenants (2% of the respondents, 1% of all tenants) said they wanted Babergh to transfer the stock.
The Stock Options Appraisal Steering Group, having completed its work, recommended that Babergh District Council should retain its housing stock which is what the tenants wanted. The Steering Groups’ recommendation was accepted by the Council on 24th February 2005. Babergh’s decision on the future of its housing, and an account of how we arrived at that decision, was then conveyed to the Government Office for the East of England (Go-East) who agreed to formally ‘sign off’ this decision.
It has been agreed that this decision and the reasoning behind it will be reconsidered each year to ensure that it remains the right one.
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