WHY should the tenants of council houses in Burnley 'have the last say' over what happens to their houses, as the town's director of community services, Ian Saville, suggests (Letters, May 22)?

He goes on to present a very plausible case for the proposed sell-off of the houses: is it already decided?

Admittedly, any scheme must directly affect the tenants, but it also affects every council tax payer in Burnley.

Burnley's housing schemes were started before the last war and the rates and rents have never been economically viable: private ratepayers have always subsidised them.

Even today, most of the houses are in the lowest council tax band, despite most of them being semi-detached.

If a number do require serious maintenance now, it is the fault of successive councils. However, what a convenient, weird and wonderful remedy the council propose - to sell off the houses en bloc, then spend the money, which should go for the benefit of all the long-suffering council tax payers in Burnley, on the same properties.

I would suggest that council tenants, who for years have been paying uneconomical rates etc, should perhaps, with the aid of reasonable grants, pay for any central heating, double glazing etc, they desire.

If, as Mr Saville avers, the council "has no finances to carry out preventative repairs," it is just another example of Burnley Council's inability to manage their affairs properly.

And how did they manage, recently, to spend thousands upon thousands on individual houses on the Casterton estate, not only modernising them, but giving them a mock Tudor look. Are these houses still in the lowest council tax band?

R BRACEWELL, Ormerod Street, Worsthorne, Burnley.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.