Have your say on housing shake-up

TENANTS are being urged to have their say on one of the biggest shake-ups of local council housing at an event next week.

Oldham needs £98million over five years just to keep its 12,000 council houses at a basic standard while Government funding to meet the Decent Homes Standard ended in March.

There is not enough money to pay for longer-term investment and management costs so the council has now drawn up five options for the future management of the stock for tenants to consider.

They are:

Leave things as they are with the arms-length management organisation First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) continuing to manage the housing stock.

Return the housing stock to the direct management of Oldham Council.

Transfer the housing stock to an existing housing association or to set up a new Oldham-based housing association.

Seek opportunities for more Private Finance Initiatives

A mixed approach combining some or all of the above options.

The choices follow a six-month survey which included looking at the condition of more than 3,000 properties, face-to-face consultation, sending a questionnaire to every council home and a review of housing finance.

A tenants’ conference will be held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall from 6 to 9pm, on October 6. A newsletter has also been sent to all homes and a series of local events are being held to get tenants’ views.

Mark Reynolds, service director for housing strategy, said: “Oldham Council set up FCHO in 2002 to deliver the Decent Homes Programme. This has seen £72million successfully invested in council housing to make homes weatherproof and warm.

“Our recent stock condition survey demonstrates that it would cost around £98 million over five years just to keep homes to a fairly basic standard and £593 million over the next 30 years. This figure would just cover the Government’s basic decent homes standard, statutory works and major item repairs relating to bathrooms, kitchens, and central heating systems, for example.”

Tenant Kevin McCarthy, chairman of the housing options panel, added: “I would stress to tenants, that when they have received the newsletter from the council to read it and find out more about what the options might mean for them.”

The preferred option will be put to the council on October 9 and the final decision made on December 10.




Get on board to shape the future

MEDLOCK Vale residents will get the chance to have their say on a document that will shape the future of their area.

The third of the New Deal for Communities pioneering Neighbourhood Agreements will go out for public consultation this week.

The agreement deals with issues around housing and will pose questions around whether residents know the role of their registered social landlord or if nuisance neighbours are a problem.

Before its official launch on October 24, a draft of the agreement will be available for residents to view tomorrow and Thursday when the youth bus tours the area.

Tom Flanagan, from the council’s regeneration directorate, will be on board to lend a helping hand and to answer some of the residents’ queries.

The route for the bus is as follows:



Tomorrow — Nield Street (10-10.50am); Falmouth Street (11-11.50am); Dowry Street (12-12.55pm); Windsor Road (1.40-3pm)



Thursday — Keb Lane (10-10.50am); Park Lane (11-11.50am); Deanshut Road (12-12.55pm); The Green (1.40-3.00pm).