Tenants get £70m switch

A new non-profit-making company, Bradford Community Housing Group, will pay Bradford Council £70 million to take over the running of the district's council housing stock starting on February 3.

A consortium of financial backers is expected to be announced next month to lend the funds to Bradford Community Housing Group, signalling the end of decades of local authority-controlled housing stock.

Today a leading councillor said the move will see cash poured in to fund desperately-needed repairs and companies from across the world were lining up to help finance the deal.

Executive member for the community, including housing, Councillor Kris Hopkins said: "We are only six months away from the biggest investment in social housing for 50 years.

"People have lived in appalling accommodation for a long time and we know people are anxious and want to see things happening now.

"An enormous amount of work is being done and we want them to bear with us. They are soon going to see the builders move in."

The massive deal will also see the transfer of about 900 housing workers to the group.

The Council said today it was aiming to give tenants a seamless switch over in the second biggest housing stock transfer in Britain. Only Sunderland, selling 38,000 council houses to a non-profit making social landlord in April last year, was a bigger move.

It is unclear where the new Bradford housing company will be based because city centre-based Central House - currently used by the housing directorate - will be demolished to make way for the new Broadway shopping development.

Today Councillor Martin Smith, elected Bradford Community Housing Group chairman, said: "It is an exciting challenge.

"The end result is about improving the quality of life for our tenants. That is what it is all about. It is a complex task involving a lot of work for everyone. Very detailed and thorough business plans have been drawn up."

He said housing would remain a high profile Council service with "significant numbers" of officers and staff dealing with the private sector, homelessness and other issues.

Coun Smith said negotiations had been taking place for a while over the wide-scale transfer of staff, who would all go to the new company under existing employment terms and conditions.

The community housing group will be the umbrella organisation over six trusts covering the whole district - North Bradford, East Bradford, South Bradford, Bradford West, Aire-Wharfe and Shipley. They have now moved from being shadow to permanent boards with eight tenants, two councillors and five independent people. All of them are chaired by tenants.

Out of those tenants who voted, 62 per cent were in favour of transferring the housing stock and have been promised £170 million worth of repairs in the first five years and £900 million over 30 years.

They received a pledge that for the first five years rents will not increase by more than inflation plus 1.5 per cent.

The massive loan from financiers is likely to be in a package covering the purchase of the properties and funding for desperately needed improvements.

But today John Rawnsley, chairman of Bradford district tenants federation, said householders were concerned about rents in view of the enormous finance required.

Mr Rawnsley, who is also a member of the group board, said: "It is a very heavy loan and people are worried about rents and inflation. But most tenants do want it and they voted in favour of it."

Ray Alderman, GMB shop steward, said workers were very worried about their futures.

"I have always been concerned about the finance involved and any future effect on staffing levels. Quite a lot of people feel uncertain about their future," he said.

The Council's transfer project manager, Paul Webley, said arrangements were being made to give people details of what would happen on transfer day.

"But the only difference is likely to be a different landlord on the rent book. There will still be housing offices and caretakers on the estates."