Investigations are underway into allegations made by campaigners about the transfer of a council's entire stock to a new landlord
Anti-transfer activists have complained about Bath and North East Somerset council's transfer of 10,200 homes to Somer Community housing trust, which went ahead last April.

The district auditor is looking into claims made by tenant Alexander Johnstone that the council illegally included public open space in the transfer, which the council denies.

Johnstone is also alleging that the council misused public funds by publishing literature on the transfer during a by-election in which his wife Sue was standing on an anti-transfer ticket.

The transfer went ahead following a ballot in which 58 per cent of tenants voted in favour.

The council this week agreed to pay the Johnstones £2,250 compensation for wrongly telling them there was no money available for an extra bedroom to be added to their council home. In fact there had been £16,150 of funding left for extensions.

The council could offer the local government ombudsman no explanation as to why the extension had not been paid for.

The council's chief executive Annie Shepherd insisted that the entire transfer had been conducted within government guidelines. She said all open land transferred was part of the stock, and was made up of play areas and pathways.

She said: "The transfer was agreed by the Secretary of State, our lawyers have advised us that we have conducted the transfer properly. No development land was transferred, and no change of use had taken place."

Source

Housing Today