© South Wales Evening Post - 1 September 2005
Labour councillors in Swansea have voted against participating in talks to transfer the city's council housing into the hands of an arms-length company. Following a series of meetings, which included briefings with departmental directors, it has emerged that the Labour Group has voted to refuse a seat on a special joint board of councillors and tenant representatives.
The board has been set up to oversee a ballot to decide the transfer of ownership and management of the housing stock to a Community Housing Mutual (a housing co-operative).
Labour leader David Phillips said today: "We have taken a long, hard look at the issues.
"But the overwhelming feeling is that we cannot abandon our long-held view that social housing should be directly managed and accountable to an elected council.
"All we have effectively done is confirm our position prior to last year's elections, which is that we are not convinced of the overall benefits arising from large-scale transfer.
"However, we recognise and support the right of tenants to make an informed choice for themselves."
He emphasised that the Labour Group would not be actively campaigning against the transfer plans.
"We intend to vet council literature to ensure that tenants are given all the information to which they are entitled.
"We will comment where we feel necessary, but we will not be interfering in the process.''
