Section: Stock Transfers
News in Brief
The Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint that Crawley Council had mislead tenants in publicity about the transfer of its homes to a housing association. It concluded that the Council had breached an advertising code by telling tenants it had to find £12 million to meet the £60 million cost of bringing their homes up to the decency standard.
The complainant, a Defend Council Housing member, argued that the £60 million figure was incorrect because it included the cost of bringing homes up to a standard beyond the minimum required.
In addition, the Council was found in breach of the Committee of Advertising Practice's code for 'unfairly denigrating' the Crawley branch of Defend Council Housing in DVD footage.
The Advertising Standards Authority has required Crawley Council to explain how much of the £60 million cost relates to the minimum decent homes standard. It has also ordered it not to repeat its claims about Defend Council Housing publicity. The Council defended its £60 million figure, saying it was based on a stock condition survey.
Lambeth Council was criticised for discounting 1,398 'votes' to claim that a majority of tenants supported its plans to set up an arm's-length management organisation. It announced that 51% of tenants had supported its plans to set up an ALMO. Closer scrutiny revealed the Council had only counted tenants that had marked their ballot papers positively with a 'yes' or 'no'.
In reality, a large number of those who voted had not been persuaded either way. If their votes were counted, then only 42% of tenants who stated an opinion would have supported the transfer.
A total 8,385 tenants and leaseholders voted, which was a 27% turnout. Of those 3,518 voted 'yes' and 1,398 voted 'don't know.'
The Council argued that it was necessary to discount the 'don't know' votes, as they can't be taken to mean 'yes' or 'no.'
Opposition voices, including Defend Council Housing, have rejected the results, arguing that government guidelines require clear support for an ALMO option to be established before progressing with such proposals.
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