FURIOUS Bury Labour rebels have accused party leaders of "shafting" tenants with an inflation-busting rent rise.

They say the service is a "shambles" and demand that tenants be spared a 4.9 per cent rent hike while homes are crying out for improvement.

Members of the housing scrutiny panel have refused to sanction the rise, proposed by the ruling cabinet. For the first time, they have formally "called in" the proposal for full council to decide.

It follows strong criticism from the District Auditor over rent arrears, now at £1.8 million, and a £39 million backlog of serious repairs.

East ward councillor Mike Connolly described the housing service as a shambles which gave very poor value for money.

"Tenants cannot get the simplest of jobs done without difficulty," he said. "We are asking the tenants to pay significantly higher rents with no assurances the service will improve.

"Last year, rents were increased by the highest rate allowed with no improvements. Why should the tenants trust the housing service again this year?" Coun Connolly said the rent rise "flies in the face" of the council's work on tackling poverty. And he condemned cuts in the repairs and maintenance budget.

"We have higher staffing now than four years ago, higher management costs, among the highest rent levels, yet we have spiralling rent arrears, an increasing number of voids even with a reducing stock, and poor estate management," he said.

"I cannot and will not approve this report. I want to look our tenants in the eye. If they stick with this, the tenants of this borough will be well and truly shafted."

Fellow Labour councillor Linda Harwood said it was wrong to ask tenants for money without telling them what they would get for it. There seemed to be cash sitting in a "black hole" waiting to be spent.

And Coun Connie Fitzgerald said: "The time has come to give tenants some guarantees of what's being done with rents. We keep promising tenants but we don't do anything."

Officers said that £330,000 had not been spent last year because the housing service was undergoing a top to bottom review, and it would be carried forward into next year's budget.

They said that extensive talks had taken place with tenants' groups on how the money should be spent, and there was a lot of work going on to reduce arrears, empty properties and management costs, which would bear fruit in the future.

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