A POLITICAL row has been sparked by the borough council's decision to transfer its housing stock to a new housing association so that major repairs and improvements can be carried out. The Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate, Simon Cordon, accused the borough's Conservatives of playing politics with their votes while his Tory counterpart Jeremy Hunt criticised the Lib Dems for making a huge U-turn. Meanwhile, the council has said that the transfer is the only viable option to provide much-needed extra affordable housing and for making vast improvements to the existing homes. The accusations began shortly after the borough council came to the decision on Monday to transfer the ownership and management its stock of homes rather than maintain ownership and transfer only the management to an ALMO (Arms Length Management Organisation). Simon Cordon criticised the borough's Conservatives saying that despite all councillors agreeing they would have a free vote, the Tories voted en masse for the stock transfer option while the Lib Dems were divided. He said that five years ago the then Tory-led council failed to push through the stock transfer when tenants voted against it. Mr Cordon said that the Tories were now trying to force it through a second time and were "putting narrow politics before the interests of tenants". "The Tories tried to sell the houses in 2000 but were defeated in a ballot of tenants," he said. "Bruised from five years ago, they have voted politically to force a new sell-off." While Mr Cordon attacked the Tories, Jeremy Hunt attacked the Liberal Democrats. Mr Hunt said that five years ago the Lib Dems did all they could to block the transfer but now that it is at the helm, it went through with some Lib Dem councillors favouring it. "This is an astonishing U -turn by the Liberal Democrats," he said. "When the Conservatives were in control, they led a campaign to reject stock transfer. Now a Lib Dem-led council has voted in favour. "Waverley tenants have lost out massively because of this delay, which has cost them dearly in terms of less money being available to fund repairs and improvements. "We could also have had 350 new, affordable homes much earlier, which would have helped countless families struggling with the high cost of local housing. The Liberal Democrats will have a lot of explaining to do to angry tenants, who will want to know why their interests were sacrificed five years ago to party political manoeuvring." While the political bickering went on, Waverley Borough Council defended its decision. Portfolio holder for housing Victor Scrivens, who actually voted against stock transfer, said: "It is with regret that we have been forced into pursuing the stock transfer option because of the changes that the government has made to how Waverley can use and manage its finances. "It is diabolical that we have to give the government about half of our rental income. Under stock transfer, this money will be kept for use in Waverley's homes." David January, the council's director of housing, added: "Councillors had to consider not only the needs of existing tenants and the evidence available, but the needs of the 2,000 people in the borough who are currently in need of housing in Waverley."
