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Glorious victory against privatisation !!!

Highland tenants vote"no" in housing transfer ballot

Tenants of The Highland Council have voted "no" to the transfer

of council houses to Highland Housing Association.

QUESTION

Are you in favour of the Council's proposal to transfer the

ownership and management of its housing to Highland Housing Association?

Total number of eligible tenants 16,403

Total number of ballot papers received 10,179

Overall rate of participation 62%

Total number of spoilt/blank ballot papers 22

Therefore, total number of valid votes counted 10,157

Result

Number voting YES 4,097 (40.3% of the valid vote)

Number voting NO 6,060 (59.7% of the valid vote)

TOTAL 10,157 (100% of the valid vote)

A VICTORY FOR COMMON SENSE STOCK TRANSFER A DISCREDITED POLICY

Naturally we are delighted but not at all surprised at this result. With a total budget of under £900, we were unable to match the huge sales campaign mounted by the Highland Council, the Scottish Executive and the Housing Association which was funded by vast sums of public money and utilising considerable numbers of housing staff along with Public Relations companies.

But by getting our message across in a simple but effective manner and telling the truth about Housing Stock Transfer, we have exposed the false promises of the stock transfer policy.

This vote is yet another nail in the coffin of housing privatisation and a vindication of those who chose to stand up to it against overwhelming odds.

We congratulate Highland Tenants for having the courage to vote NO to this stock transfer scam, that we as tenants did not ask for, did not want, and in the end totally rejected.

We now urge our fellow tenants to lobby their local politicians to fight for adequate funding for Local Authority housing, and for the Housing Debt to be written off without the need for transfer of stock.

We call upon the Highland Council to join with the majority of Scotland's Councils, tenants, and trade unions and demand that our public housing is properly financed.

We say 'Drop the Debt' and let us enter an age of well-maintained low-cost housing for rent

HAST also calls for the immediate resignation of the Housing Committee Chairperson, Cllr. Margaret Davidson and of the Communities Minister Malcolm Chisholm MSP.

Mr Chisholms linking of funding for so called "Affordable Housing" to the issue of Housing Stock Transfer was absolutely reprehensible, the lack of affordable housing both to rent and buy is a huge issue in the Highlands and has nothing whatsoever to do with the issue of changing landlord. We now call on the Communities Minister, or hopefully his immediate successor, to make adequate funding available to make a real impact on this crucial issue.

Cllr Margaret Davidson has shown a total unwillingness to listen to the views of her tenants and even at times to common sense. We would also question the wisdom of her taking a paid position as Non Executive Director of Communities Scotland at a time when the same organisation was the main driving force behind the policy of Stock Transfer in the Highlands.

Cllr Davidson should immediately relinquish her position of Chair of Housing and Social Work with Highland Council and her paid position on the Board of Communities Scotland.

HAST will soon wind up as an organisation and go in to abeyance, but we will be ready to re-form and fight the threat of any further stock transfers if the need arises.

The Housing issue has now been put back firmly on the political agenda in Scotland.

I call upon my fellow tenants to lobby all political parties to ensure that the spectre of Housing Stock Transfer is dead and buried. To lobby for the write off of housing debt and for adequate funding to be made available for the crucial issue of housing shortage in the Highlands.

As Chairperson of HAST, I would firstly like to thank all of the tenants, from all over the Highlands, who assisted us in getting our message across to our fellow tenants, on the scam that is Housing Stock Transfer. I would also like to thank the members of the following trade unions and political parties for their assistance with the campaign:

Unison Highland Branch for allowing HAST to have our say in their newsletter to tenants, the TGWU for their advice and assistance, thanks are also due to various members of the Scottish National Party, Solidarity, and the Scottish Socialist Party who assisted us with leafleting in various areas of the Highlands. At the end of the day, we gave it our best shot with the resources and people we had available, we fought the good fight, to resist a stock transfer that we as tenants most certainly did not ask for, and we won.

Yours Donnie Kerr, Chairperson Highlands Against Stock Transfer (HAST)

For further information and comment contact: Donnie Kerr 01463 223578 or email donniekerr@yahoo.com }