Edinburgh Sucks! | “Just doesn’t add up”

City Council

“Just doesn’t add up”

By The Basa ⋅ October 29, 2005 ⋅

It seems that the council are being caught out in their lies yet again with the proposed council housing transfer. Independent researchers have found that there is a £29,000,000 (yep, that’s millions) hole in the projected costs of keeping the houses in a state of good repair.

City of Edinburgh Housing Association (CEHA) which is expected to take control of 23,000 homes in the city, has set aside £9m for repairs over the next five years.

But the Tenants’ Information Service (TIS) claims in a document published today that the cost of keeping the city’s most run-down houses up to scratch is nearer £38m

It is strange that this forward planning council seem to have made the same mistake as they did with the Tram fiasco and have not taken into consideration increasing building costs and inflation. How can this happen?

Jenni Marrow, 60, a member of Edinburgh Against Stock Transfer (East) and a resident of Pennywell Court, said: “The stock transfer proposal is based on a lot false assumptions and out-of-date information that just doesn’t add up.

“The ballot was meant to take place next spring but they’ve rushed it through because they know a lot of people don’t fully understand the issues involved.

“The tenants didn’t ask for this and the council hasn’t made it clear to people they will be swapping £300m of debt for £1.2 billion of debt.”

Even the Prime Minister’s constituency has turned down the offer:

Whips & Chains

Much embarrassment for the Labour party in Toby Blair’s constituency of Sedgefield where council tenants have voted emphatically against the flogging off their homes. On a 73 percent turnout, 60 percent of tenants rejected the council’s plan to sell 9,000 homes to the Sunderland Housing Group (SRG).

Before the ballot the Labour council and SHG had bombarded tenants with a propaganda campaign costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. It included door-to-door canvassing, glossy brochures and DVDs. Yet the oponents of privatisation won the argument. Perhaps it was because in Sedgefield you can smell the stink from Sunderland, where the transfer of the council’s housing stock to the SHG housing association has led to big salaries and jobs for the boys (and girls) and a lot of hot air - plus a scandalously long housing waiting list and not very many houses being built.

Two Sunderland Labour councillors who had the temerity to criticise SHG to the Commons council housing group have been threatened with disciplinary action by the Labour party. Cllr. Bryn Sidaway told MPs: “If anyone has doubts about not going down the privatisation road, or the transfer of council housing stock, get on a bus and go to Sunderland. What we’ve experienced is frightening.”

For this, Cllr. Sidaway a former leader of Sunderland city council, faces suspension or having the whip withdrawn. Fellow councillor Mike Tansey, says he has received dire threats of a good whipping, but will not face any further action as long as he keeps his mouth shut.

The internal disciplinary procedures against Tansey and Sidaway have been handled by junior whip Cllr. Paul Watson but were initiated by the chief whip of Sunderland’s Labour group, Cllr. Les Scott. He happens to be vice-chair of Sunderland Housing Group - so no conflict of interest there, then!

My Pension is SORTED It is time that city residents who rent from the council had a real good look at the spin and false and misleading propaganda coming from this goosestepping council. We predict that if the transfer goes through, there will be A LOT OF money in it for all people at the top of the Edinburgh Housing Association - Sheila Gilmore and her cohorts will become wealthy people on the backs of the poor of Edinburgh. Gilmore also forgets to tell you that in Glasgow where the transfer went ahead the residents are taking the ‘housing association’ to court to get repairs for damp etc carried out and the new builds are to say the least, limited (click here).