Harrow council is to repeat its stock options appraisal after ditching plans for an arm’s-length management organisation.

The ALMO’s shadow board said it was “extremely unimpressed” with the move, in a letter to councillors last Friday. The council’s cabinet and the ALMO shadow board were due to meet yesterday to discuss the issue.

The board pointed out that a second options appraisal would be “expensive” and the council had little time to complete it before the government’s July 2005 deadline.

The shadow board said it was “seriously concerned” about the viability of the council’s new preferred option of prudential borrowing. It said the financial appraisal found that prudential borrowing would be most effective in tandem with other stock options rather as the sole funding choice. The council should opt for an ALMO alongside prudential borrowing, the shadow board said.

Its letter added: “Significant funds and time have been invested in the ALMO, all of which is to be wasted.”

A council spokesman said he was confident the second options appraisal could be completed by next July.

Harrow announced that it planned to pull out of the ALMO last month (HT 22 October, page 10), even though 70% of tenants had voted in favour of the option.

Source

Housing Today