This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Stirling housing ballot approved
11/07/2006
Proposals for a ballot of 5,600 council house tenants at Cornton in Stirling to transfer to a not-for profit landlord, Housing Stirling, were approved by Ministers today.
A yes vote will see more than £70 million of new investment over the next nine years to ensure every home meets the national quality standard.
Communities Minister Malcolm Chisholm said:
"I am very pleased that we have reached this stage in the Community Ownership programme. It is an excellent deal for Stirling because it will deliver better homes, stable rents and more say for tenants.
"That's not just my opinion; it's also the opinion of Audit Scotland in its report on community ownership.
"We are already seeing a difference from the investment at Raploch but this will bring much more to the whole city.
"The plain fact is that staying with the council will not deliver anything like the same package. Council housing debt can only be written off if tenants vote yes.
"That will give Housing Stirling a fresh start so that it can invest income from rents into actually providing modern decent homes people need."
Mr Chisholm said community ownership represented a change from days when tenants effectively 'had things done to them or for them' by their landlord.
New housing associations created by transfers were directly accountable to the tenants in a way not envisaged a generation ago and Communities Scotland acting as regulator made sure they kept their promises in full.
Mr Chisholm said:
"Community Ownership has already transformed the daily lives of thousands of people giving them decent, modern homes that they want to live in and a say in their housing - and their future."