COUNCILLORS have set the ball rolling on the possible sell-off of three rundown council house estates in Hyndburn.

Consultation is to start immediately with around 300 tenants on The Sands estate, Rishton, Woodnook estate, Accrington, and Within Grove estate, Huncoat, about transferring the ownership of their homes to a new landlord.

Tenants will have the final say on the transfer because the council is obliged to consult them in a secret ballot.

The council would still have a role to play as it is saying that the new landlord should be a special company set up with the council having a one-third stake on the board.

Tenants' representatives will also have a chance to make up a third of the board.

Housing services committee chairman Coun Clifford Westell said: "After long and hard consideration the council has decided that it has no other option but to recommend to these tenants that stock transfer is the only way they will get the improvements their estates need.

"My only priority is the quality of life of our tenants. If there was any other way the council could do the necessary improvements themselves, I'm sure we would not be making this recommendation." Public meetings for tenants of the three estates are planned for this week.

They are tonight 7pm St Augustine's Church, Bolton Avenue, Huncoat; Tuesday 7pm Christ Church, Accrington; and Wednesday 7pm Norden High School, Rishton.

Head of housing Gwyneth Sarkar said: "Those tenants affected by the decision can be confident from the start that the council cannot sell their homes without them all being given a chance to vote on the issue.

"The council expects the consultation to take six to nine months and every person affected will have a chance to properly understand the issues involved.

"Indeed tenants will be able to get involved in the sorts of improvements planned for their estate and to be represented on the board of the proposed new company."

The three estates have been chosen because they are in urgent need of investment.

The council is keeping its options open on whether the same stock transfer proposal would be in the best interests of all its other tenants.

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