THE future of Ribble Valley's 1,250 council houses was last night described as the biggest issue in the borough's history.

Ribble Valley Council is one of only three authorities in East Lancashire -- alongside Pendle and Rossendale -- yet to make moves towards the transfer of ownership of its housing stock.

But a jury of Ribble Valley tenants last month voted to transfer the stock to a registered social landlord, representing the first major step towards the borough council off-loading its homes. Joyce Holgate, chairman of the council's housing committee, told last night's full council meeting that the decision was among the biggest elected members would ever have to make.

She said: "I want to reassure all our tenants that the decision we make is the right one and there is a long time to go before a final decision is made.

"The tenants are looking forward to the next 30 years and we have given them every opportunity to understand what the issues are."

The jury, made up of 16 tenants who came forward from council estates across the borough, voted for the change after working with independent advisers over the last eight months. The next stage will see councillors voting on whether to support this decision at a meeting of the housing committee on November 11.

The council's policy and finance committee is then likely to take another vote on November 18, before the decision comes to the full council, probably in December. The ultimate decision is then handed over to the tenants themselves.

However, in order for any transfer to go ahead at least 50 per cent of the tenants have to vote, and of them, at least 51 per cent have to vote for the handover.

Under government rules Ribble Valley Council, like all local authorities, has to ask its tenants whether they would prefer to transfer to a registered social landlord.