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Stevenage Tories and Lib Dems reject housing savings

Labour-led Stevenage Borough Council today backed a move to bring social housing back under Council control, following overwhelming support from tenants and leaseholders.  The Conservative and Liberal Democrat opposition parties, however, voted against, abstained…or just didn’t show up.
 
Social housing in Stevenage was transferred to an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) in 2006, to enable the greater investment in public housing available at that time.  New rules mean that ALMOs are no longer needed to access funding and Stevenage Council estimates that it can save between £635,000 and £860,000 by taking housing back home to the Council.  Tenants and leaseholders overwhelmingly agreed with the move, following an extensive consultation.
 
“The Tories and Lib Dems let down the tenants and leaseholders of Stevenage by failing to back the majority view.  Their reasons just don’t add up.  The Council will be saving up to £860,000 with this move, which it plans to re-invest in the housing stock.  While the Tory-led Government turns the screws on local areas in the name of fiscal responsibility, their colleagues in Stevenage don’t seem to have understood the message.  They’ve failed to back the wishes of local people and would rather waste money playing political games,” stormed Stevenage Council’s Executive Member for the economy, Cllr Ralph Raynor.