Swindon Council tenants have voted decisively against transfer of our housing to a Housing Association. On a turnout of 65.6%, 2,329 (27.7%) voted in favour, and 6,073 (72.3) voted against.
The result could hardly have been more decisive. It will take a while to make an assessment of why it was so decisive. We’ll be seeking feedback from around the town. One of our concerns during the campaign was that some tenants appeared to think that the result was a foregone conclusion, whilst some said that “they’ll do it anyway”. Others believed that the Council would rig the ballot. We tried to get across the fact that tenants had the power to stop the transfer (we were the only ones with a vote) and put over the message, don’t waste your vote; don’t let the Council win because you didn’t vote. Clearly the high turnout indicates that even if people thought some of these things they decided to cast their vote anyway. It was the high turnout that delivered the decisive majority.
Whilst we are obviously over the moon at this result, there needs to be an accounting of the campaign of the Council. Despite their assertion that they were only “presenting facts” the Council was organising an undeclared Yes campaign. Every piece of propaganda they produced was designed to lead tenants to draw the conclusion that there was no alternative to transfer.
One of the reasons why the majority was so decisive, in my view, was that tenants know a hard sell when they see one. They had staff visiting their doorsteps, phoning them up. Swindon Tenants Campaign Group had unsolicited calls from tenants all over the town complaining about staff behaviour towards them. Some of it was disgraceful, like the occasion when a tenant was told they might as well take a No poster down as it wouldn’t make any difference, or another told ‘you can vote No, but it will still go through. Another tenant rang us up and told us that a senior council officer who they had spoken to, told them ‘we’ll be better off with a Housing Association’ (the officers were ‘neutral’ we were told). People we did not know told us that some staff were trying to persuade tenants to vote for transfer. Indeed on the Council’s own Housing Group Facebook page there were complaints from tenants about harassment. Rest assured we’ll be pursuing these issues.
Swindon Tenants Campaign Group will be meeting to discuss the result and what comes next. My personal view is that we need to continue with STCG as the focus for building an independent tenants movement across the town. We need to campaign for funding which measures up to the needs of tenants and for a new Council house building programme to address the housing crisis, both locally and nationally.
Finally, our thanks to everybody who contributed to the campaign – people who helped STCG to deliver our leaflets, and those of you who if not involved in the campaign, did their bit talking to their neighbours and friends and arguing the case for a No vote. Thousands of conversations were had all over the town, and each of them was important.
We should all be proud of the fact that despite being outgunned by the Council in terms of money and other resources, we won against the odds. Tenants refused to be brow-beaten. What we need to do now is to build on this victory by developing an independent tenants organisation to fight for our interests on an on-going basis.
Martin Wicks
Swindon Tenants Campaign Group 
No doubt SBC will use the outcome as an excuse to penalise tenants. There will certainly be a need for an independent tenants association, with teeth!
Not another bunch of SBC worshippers and yes men [ & women).
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Congratulations to Swindon Tenants Campaign Group. Your commonsense and realistic approach has won the day. The amount of money spent by the Council on printing, delivering, posting, knocking on doors, telephoning should be listed clearly on a balance sheet for all to see. Let us hope that lessons have been learnt.
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I Wonder how much they paid their consultants (Tenant Advisers) ?
I emailed them twice with a sensible question, had no acknowledgement and no replies. It would not surprise me to learn that the entire operation cost in excess of £700,000 including housing staff time, meetings, travel etc. in addition to the upfront costs of color printing, postage, phone calls etc. A disgusting waste of council tax.
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Fantastic !!!!!
Now lets build a Tenants Asscociation and make sure that we NEVER !! let the council try these Anti tenant ! ! underhanded slimeball tactics again !!!!
Tenants Asscociation NOW !!!
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thank you for letting me know about this I am absolutely over the moon. Also I will admit that I did honestly believe that the Council would rig the vote and I am happy to admit I was wrong.
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Great News and a relief however I do think that SBC will use this as an excuse to get out of doing lots of things saying “We Have No Money” because you voted NO – I can hear it now, but as we have said many times before, far better dealing with elected Councilors rather than a Private Company and its Board of Directors who;s loyalty would be to the Housing Association and not their tenants and cannot be voted out if they do not do their best for us
A GREAT RESULT – Well Done Martin and the team
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Great result. People were not taken in by the Council’s weasel words. Who, in their right minds would throw away a secure tenancy in favour of an “assured” tenancy just to (maybe) get a new bathroom/kitchen or whatever. I personally cannot wait for an open meeting for a new, independent Tenants’ Association, something that is long overdue. The money that was wasted on this vote could have been put to much better use e.g. replacing the useless, broken, inefficient double glazing in many of our houses. Although this vote was instigated by the Government’s hatred of Council house tenants, those at the top of the Housing Department should be brought to account for the underhand and devious tactics deployed to try and secure a yes to transfer vote. In other words, they should be sacked. Incidentally, the woman who came to my door said that people weren’t interested in the vote and seemed dismayed when she saw my poster in the window. Council tenants were not taken in by the Council’s underhand attempt at bribery and they were VERY interested in who their landlord would be.
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Further to my earlier post, as an aside, since SBC have put a value of £5000 on our houses, will they now be obliged to sell the houses under the RTB scheme for £5000 less discount? I did ask the woman who came to my door that question and was told no, it would sell for the market value. I wonder what the legalities are on this one. Perhaps the Council have not heard that there are laws against gazumping (which technically speaking this would be). Perhaps someone with legal knowledge could come up with an answer?
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Last year Fiona Swindon Council sold 4 houses – yes that’s right 4. Personally I have always been opposed to the right to buy which sold off socially owned property on the cheap. That combined with the fact that Thatcher effctively banned building Council house created the housing crisis we have today. The ludicrous price to a Housing Association of our homes was the result of a system introduced by the previous, New Labour government, which set out to wipe out Council housing. They tried to pressure tenants into voting for transfer by wiping out Council debt, but only if tenants voted for transfer. They were forced to partly abandon that policy by the housing crash, and near the end of their time in office they allowed Councils the right to start building new Council housing. Our job today, in my personal view, is to campaign for the funding necessary to build new Council homes on a large enough scale to produce a decline in the 1.8 million family housing list. The Tories are now talking about a higher reduction for tenants to buy their homes. What sense does it make to sell off more Council homes when we have a massive shortage of them?
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It was a hypothetical question but a valid one nevertheless. I would have thought, that putting that value in writing could be legally binding. I wonder if someone will try. Be interesting to see the result! I am not against RTB as I do think owning your own home is better than renting it but for some of us (due to age and circumstances), the private sector will only remain a pipe dream. House prices are still far too high and, as we all know, getting a mortgage is nigh on impossible at the moment – even more so if you are widowed and in your 50s 😦 However, I am delighted at the result of the vote and look forward to a forthcoming meeting to form a new, independent tenant’s association which has been long overdue. Hopefully, this will happen sooner rather than later and I wait with baited breath for the date and time. I will be there.
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Swindon Council tenants have voted decisively against transfer of our housing to a Housing Association. On a turnout of 65.6%, 2,329 (27.7%) voted in favour, and 6,073 (72.3) voted against.
great news we wone!
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The private sector isn’t a bed of roses Fiona – how many people put money aside to replace their own roof? Many who bught their home cheaply cannot now afford the repair costs – repairs that they got for nothing unde their social landlord.
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I know it isn’t Laurence. I’ve lived in the private sector too (30 years ago). What saddens me is the snobbery that exists from some private householders against Council house tenants. What many forget is that serious illness/circumstances can befall anyone and turn your life upside down. Pride comes before a fall. I like where I live. I love my house, I have good neighbours. We have a quiet street. I really couldn’t ask for a better place to live. I admit I was very worried that we might change landlords and was over the moon when I read the results yesterday. I think some at the Council thought we were mushrooms!!! I most definitely think the way forward now is to form the Tenants Association as quickly as possible. The housing stock here is, in comparison to other places, actually very good – but it could be better, benefitting both the tenants and the landlord.
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May I congratulate your group on rejecting this stock transfer, As a resident in carlisle, the greatest mistake that ever happened was the dubious transfer of our housing stock. keep fighting to keep it out of housing authority hands and keep your councillors accountable.
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Thanks David. We would be interested to hear about your experience in Carlisle.
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A good result for Swindon tenants. However, this does not mean transfer is wrong. A review by tenants and Councillors should now be underway to review the role officers and elected members re any bias they put forward? This ballot has a cost to rent payers and questions must be asked – not a witch hunt.
The Tenants have a number of options not least a TMO or a number of small TMO’s etc.
If there is a funding Gap why have officers and members not produced Plan B?
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