MASSIVE pay rises awarded to newly-appointed bosses of Burnley and Padiham Housing were today slammed as "a betrayal of the tenants" by a top housing manager.

Pendle housing boss John Kirk said Pendle would strongly resist any move to transfer its 4,000 council houses to a private company and hit out at transfer towns for failing to spell out the full downside of the deals which attract millions of pounds of new investment for home improvement.

"It may bring in millions but it has got to be paid for and it will be future tenants who will be forced to pay through the nose," he warned.

"Burnley tenants who voted for the change, voted for large rent increases for the children of the town.

"The new tenants are not outsiders -- they are our kids, still in school, who will end up paying the price."

Council services director Mr Kirk who heads a highly successful housing team in Pendle, said the company which last month took control of all Burnley's 5,300 council homes following a massive "yes" vote by tenants, was wrong to hand out increases of many thousands of pounds to top executives for jobs similar to those they had been employed to do with the council. He said all three political parties in Pendle were opposed to transfer but if change was forced upon the borough, there would be no way massive rises would be awarded to new company executives as was the case in Burnley where one former council manager saw his salary rise by more than £20,000.

"It would be a total betrayal of our tenants, because they are paying the bill -- for me it is a question of principle."

Unlike Burnley which had to be bailed out by the Government because the value of its houses was £20million less than the mortgage owing on them, Pendle would make a £20million profit after paying off what it owed on its 4,000-homes stock.

"Although the whole system is skewed in favour of stock transfer and the money the new companies can borrow for improvements, there are some serious disadvantages, not least the purchase of the houses and money borrowed for improvements has to be paid for -- by the tenants," said Mr Kirk.

"New tenants have to immediately pay 20 per cent more than existing tenants and I believe there will be further increases to come for them. Mr Kirk said that with a 10 per cent tenancy turnover, it would not be long before the higher-paying new tenants were in the majority.

New tenants after transfer would not enjoy the same tenancy conditions or be able to buy their homes at the same discounts now given to existing council tenants.

Higher rents, he said, would upset the socio-economic balance of council housing, resulting in more and more people who were out of work and on benefits moving into former council houses.

Burnley finance chairman Peter Kenyon said the advantages of transfer of council stock to a social housing company were so great, boroughs like Pendle and Rossendale would follow Burnley's lead.

Blackburn and Darwen is already moving ahead with plans to sell off its 10,000-home council estates to a private company.

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