REGARDING your article, 'Council house vote a year late - claim' (LET, July 19), Conservative councillor John Williams was indeed correct in accusing Blackburn with Darwen Labour councillors of having their priorities wrong over the transfer of the council's entire housing stock.

The most important priority now is to give tenants the exact information they need to make a judgment on either selling off the houses or forming a local housing company in which tenants would have a long-overdue say.

Soundbites must be nipped in the bud. Precise information must be the order of the day to enable a decision to be made by tenants.

But owner-occupiers must also be considered for membership of the boards of any local housing companies which are formed.

I would welcome comment from all the parties on this proposal, since I think owner-occupiers tend to have a somewhat more concrete interest in the areas in which they live than tenants. Many of them are also resentful over the issue of the negative equity of their homes, which they believe is a result of the Labour group's neglect and decades of misjudgment.

I invite reply from all councillors and, in particular, those with Labour leanings.

P. NEWTON (Mr) (Chairman, Bank Top Community Association), Ashworth Close, Blackburn.

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