The proposal to transfer 27,000 Bradford Council homes from the control of the local authority to a Community Housing Trust has been deeply divisive.

Some tenants, whose views are largely represented by the Defend Council Housing Campaign, see the move as nothing less than privatisation, and insist that it will mean higher rents and a loss of their rights.

Other tenants, though, share the Council's view that the transfer is the best way to raise the substantial amount of money required to bring up to modern standard the many properties which are in need of improvements.

As the scores of letters written to the T&A over this issue have demonstrated, there are very strong feelings on either side and a great deal of mistrust on the part of opponents of the proposals. The truth has become somewhat blurred by the rhetoric.

We tend to agree with those who see little future in sticking with the present system, which is failing tenants badly. However, it is the tenants themselves who must decide in a ballot next March.

It is important that they should feel able to trust the 100-page document setting out the proposals which will be sent out to each of them. Already, rightly or wrongly, it has been condemned as "loaded and biased".

When it is considered next Tuesday by the Executive and full Council, every effort should be made to ensure that it is fair and balanced and acknowledges the sceptics' concerns honestly and fully, so that tenants can feel confident that they have all the information they need on which to make up their minds.