“Mr Peter Rees, if you are not misinformed I can only assume you are deliberately misinforming people.

You claimed "The Westminster Report does not apply to Wales", yet is patently does!

You may say that Housing is a devolved issue but you must know that local authorities in Wales are currently prevented from making any independent choices due to financial restraints under the national Housing Revenue Account, which you must also know is being reviewed by the Housing Minister John Healey! This is why Neath Port Talbot should withdraw their resolution proposing to ballot tenants on transfer of our Council housing.

In the light of the government consultation on the new Housing Finance system, Swindon Council ruling Tory group has withdraw their resolution proposing to ballot tenants on transfer of our Council housing to a Housing Association. Their decision does not mean that the ruling group has abandoned the idea of transfer, but they have had the sense to recognise that the government has proposed a fundamental change to the system which means that the financial calculations on which the transfer proposal was made are out of date. Surely therefore Neath Port Talbot should have the sense to do precicely the same.

Back in January you claimed that unless tenants voted in favour of transfer rents could double or even triple, yet both the Deputy Minister for Housing at the Assembly, Jocelyn Davies and South West Wales AM, Peter Black have since refuted your claims as totally unrealistic!

I can only imagine why you would risk you reputation as a local councillor in order to continue making such outlandish claims...”

“Mr. Peter Rees, in the real world Councillors do what is best for the people who elect them. Your last reply is disengenious to say the least. I believe the vote taken by the full council was a decision to give tenants a vote, not to transfer the housing stock outright as you infer. Why do you contstantly state that this is where you are and this is what the people must put up with. I thought we lived in a democracy where the wishes of the majority of the people are conveyed through their elected members to the authorities who are public servants put in place to manage the holdings of that authority. It seems the people of Neath Port Talbot are constantly dictated to and told you have no choice but to do what we tell you. We must read between the lines Cllr Peter Rees and we must evaluate who will benefit most from the transfer of council housing stock in Neath Port Talbot. As tenants we obviously have to use our vote wisely and to have people threaten that our houses will fall apart around your ears if we do not listen and do what you say, does not appear to be very democratic. Listen to the people of Neath Port Talbot Mr. Rees, all of them, not just your chosen few and give us the truth about why Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and the elected members are not fighting tooth and nail with the Welsh Assembly and Westminster on behalf of their electorate instead of using heavy handed bullying tactics and shallow bribery to get what is best for who? Your people attempt to dispel the myth, as you call it ' better the devil you know' but is it not true Councillor Rees? Remember if the people believe those elected have not done their job properly, every 4 years we get a vote to change that. Once the council homes of in excess of 9,000 families are transferred, if you have your way, then the people have lost that privilege regarding the homes they live in. They will no longer be able to vote the people who control their homes and ultimately their lives out of office. They are stuck, no Councillor ro run to and complain, no democracy or pride surrounding their homes, just plain ownership. Better the devil you know Mr. Rees? Yes I believe so as the council tenants with their votes have some control over their future homes that way. This is the power of the people Cllr Rees, something that should not be taken lightly by elected representatives.”

“It is a great shame that the Head of Housing for a Labour controlled authority cannot find merit in a well researched report issued by the House of Commons Council Housing group of MP 's whose chairman is the Labour MP Austin Mitchell.
Of course Austin Mitchell has a different and positive view of council homes and is aware of the massive resistance to housing privatisation across the UK during the past 15 years.
He knows and it is made clear in the report , that the 'real world' in which our pro privatisation Labour group operates in has been constructed by both conservative and New Labour policies during the past 30 years or so.
It is a free market ,neo liberal and privatising world where public housing has consistently been denied the investment needed to house working class people.
We see the results all around us.... a deep and savage banking and financial crisis which has occured because New Labour took a hands off approach to financial controls, record homes being repossessed as ordinary people find they cannot keep up with their mortgage repayments, growing numbers of homeless people , a collapse in the private property market, unemployment soaring into the millions, and ,yes, Housing Associations set up to replace Council house ownership now under increasing financial pressure as a result of poor management and the crisis in property prices.
New Labour council chiefs obviously believe that the answer is to hand over the council homes to a private housing company. This is reckless folly worthy of a city fat cat!
Austin Mitchell argues, instead ,in his report that 'This is the moment to put council housing back at the heart of council provision' I agree with him!
Huw”

“Mr Pudner, I have read the report and considered its merits. If the fourth option was a reality then it might have some merit. In the real world I have to deal with the facts that are placed before me. The whole NPTCouncil considered those facts in September 08 and voted unanimously (including Cllr Martyn Peters) to transfer the housing stock as the best option to attain WHQS.”

“Mr Lynch, why do you always have to be abusive? I am not misinformed and you know full well that Housing is a devolved issue and the Westminister Report on page 25 states the case of the "fourth option." The Government has ignored that plea for the last seven years. What do we now do? Allow our tenants to live in homes that will deteriorate over the years because of lack of investment or try to obtain the WHQS by the means of a Community Mutual Housing model. The tenants will have the choice in the ballot.”

“Unlike Peter I have read the House Of Commons report 'Time To Invest'. It is a hard hitting document which supports both tenants and the very idea of council house ownership; unlike the New Labour group of cllrs who appear only too willing to see the entire housing stock handed over to NPT Homes Ltd. I have donated a copy of the report to the Housing Department of the NPT Council and would reccomend it to all who have an interest in the future of council homes in the area.
How disappointing that a House of Commons Report by MP's who support council housing should be so casually and carelessly dismissed by the New Labour cabinet chairman for Housing on the NPT Council !
Fortunately, there are cllrs who support council house ownership and oppose privatisation.I heard Cllr Martyn Peters together with Paul Lynch from the DCH Camapaign give excellent excellent and accurate accounts of the need to reject privatisation in Pontardawe tonight.
Last of all I would like to comment on the posting by a BNP member. The BNP is not judged on its housing policy.It is judged by its nazi,racist and white supremacist swaggering.
The Labour Party for all its faults gave us Nye Bevan who built hundreds of thousands of good quality houses in the late 1940s. The BNP leaders,hardcore nazis all, look to Adolph Hitler who did his utmost to destroy European civilization as well as bombing Swansea and other cities and towns across the UK.
Huw”

“It is and should always be that Council House Stock should remain the responsibility of the Local Council.

Simple.”

“Peter, are you really that misinformed or are deliberately trying to mislead people?

Page 24 of the House of Commons report clearly says:

"In Wales widespread opposition to transfer means the process of forcing councils to submit options appraisals and/or ballot tenants has been slow. NO votes in Wrexham and Swansea, and large minorities voting NO in Conwy and Merthy Tydfil (where they had only a 14-vote majority ¿Yes¿), indicates ongoing hostility to transfer.
Tenants voting to stay with the council put government under real pressure. It is clear council housing is here to stay. Tenants¿ campaigns have won wide backing from trade unions, councillors and MPs, and have pushed the issue to the top of the political agenda. The Review of Council Housing Finance, with its promises of a ¿sustainable¿ future for
council housing, was a product of this determined opposition to privatisation."”

“No Peter you are wrong, it is the tenants who decide and they have 2 options YES or NO. It is rarely that people get a vote and I would urge those who have one over this issue to look after themselves, do what they believe is best for them in their long term interest. From the heartlands of the ex industrial South Wales where my father and grandfather fought for the right to decent housing, decent pay and a decent place to live for their families you ask them to now sell their souls for a new kitchen? Sweets for the Indians on the reserves? A once proud people who worked for their living and held their heads up to their neighbours to a nation brought to it's knees by successive policy of Governments. The pursuit of the Euro wage has led to this country losing all the ground our forefathers fought for. Your government has allowed people to flood in to take the few jobs and work flood out to poorer areas with no thought for the welfare rights of those who had to walk away from those jobs. Now is the time for Wales to grow from within, to show those who seek to take them to a low not seen since before nationalisation so that all the peoples of Europe belong to the same tribe. But we never will Peter, even if your Government and your Council demands we bow our heads and take things lying down. Do not feed us sweets and whisky, it will backfire when you attempt to do it to the Welsh. Give us a strong roof over our heads and work for our idle hands and once again we will fly over your heads. In the meantime cheap shallow bribery will not work. Roll on the vote. Could you please let us know when it will be ?”

“The Westminister Report does not apply to Wales. It is the Welsh Assembly Government who set the WHQS standard and the dates by which it has to be met. The "fourth Option" has been debated many times and the Government/Treasury are not prepared to change the rules. This cheap publicity by Huw Pudner is misleading and typical of the DCH campaign to only give slanted information. The only option for Neath Port Talbot is to transfer its housing stock if tenants want the improvements and job opportunities for the next 30 years.”