THE man who spearheaded the campaign for tenants to vote "no" to Waverley Council's proposal to sell off its housing stock to a housing association has been expelled from the council's tenants panel. Farnham council tenant Jeremy Hyman, founder of Tenants Watch, helped swing the close vote in December, when 52.75 per cent of tenants who voted opted to keep the council as their landlord. But when the panel met last Thursday, Mr Hyman found himself accused by fellow panel members of breaching the panel's code of conduct through his leafleting and doorstepping during the stock transfer ballot. They voted by eight votes to one, with two abstentions, to expel him as a tenants' panel representative. In a statement issued after the meeting, panel chairman Pat Wright said: "The panel had agreed unanimously, including Mr Hyman, that it would remain impartial and neutral on the issue as to whether tenants should have voted for or against the council's proposal. "Mr Hyman clearly worked hard to achieve to achieve a no vote and used his badge as a tenants' panel representative throughout the ballot. "Members of the panel clearly have their own views but our role was to ensure that tenants had access to information and advice from TACT@DOME, the independent tenants adviser." The statement said that David January, Waverley's director of housing, was asked by Mrs Wright to respond to Mr Hyman's assertion that all the information Tenants Watch had issued was accurate. Mr January replied that the council's formal offer to tenants was legally binding, accurate and had been approved. He said the council would be issuing a formal response to the "misleading, inaccurate flyers, issued by Tenants Watch". This would be publicly available shortly. A vote of no confidence was passed in Mr Hyman as a tenants panel representative. A further vote was taken on the alleged breaches of the code of conduct, which were agreed to be so serious that he should be expelled from the panel. The meeting then adjourned and later heard from David January about the implications of the no vote and the difficulties ahead for the council and its tenants. Mr Hyman, in his campaign leaflets, had alleged that Waverley has more money available for council house repairs and improvements than it admits to. This week he suggested his continued questioning could be at the root of his expulsion. "As I had submitted some pertinent questions received from tenants, for officers to address, we might deduce that the panel and staff's decisive actions were necessary to avoid having to respond. "I had also told people that I intended to propose 'that the panel requests that Waverley now start spending the housing reserves that we've amassed on the urgent repairs and improvements that are long overdue; and also please tell us where and when they intend to build the 60-70 new homes for which we have the funds available'. "I must respect the majority vote. I guess I'll have to ask the council directly." Mr Hyman said he had raised the matter of "vested interests" as "the panel's pretence of neutrality' had been proposed and seconded by two panel members who were also members of the board of Weyfold - the housing association established by Waverley specifically to take over the housing stock. "I was stopped from being heard, then they quickly voted me off the panel." He added: "When we eventually find out what Tenants Watch has been accused of, perhaps we can try mediation, done properly, to avoid any further unpleasantness?" Donald Simpson, another campaigner against housing transfer, told The Herald: "It is absolutely disgusting if they have expelled him. His analysis of the housing situation has been extremely useful to tenants like myself. "It has been a David and Goliath situation. He has won the battle and he should not be silenced."
