CLAIMS OF a stitch up'' over the board of Hounslow Homes were again made at the council's borough meeting last week, by opposition councillors angry that two non-elected members would be staying.

Leader of the Conservative opposition, Cllr Peter Thompson, spoke out at the meeting on Tuesday night (May 20th) after it was revealed two of the four non-elected council nominations for the board of Hounslow Homes from last year, would remain on the board: In Hounslow we have a policy of exclusion in housing. It happens in our estates and in our council chambers. If you are not in the Labour party you can't take part.''

The council can nominate five out of the fifteen members on the board of the Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) set up last year to manage the borough's housing stock.

A row was sparked at the time, when four of the original five nominations by the ruling Labour group were not Councillors, and unaccountable to the electorate.

After a vote at the borough meeting on Tuesday divided along party lines, two of those were replaced by Labour Councillors Hunt and Whatley, but opposition councillors remain angry that Mel Collins and Janet Tindall, who were both defeated at the May elections last year, will stay.

Councillor Mark Bowen spoke at the meeting: Looking at the new composition , two of the five Council Board Members remain unaccountable to local people. Hounslow therefore remains the only ALMO in the country to have a stitched up Council Board Membership. The other local authorities, which have adopted an ALMO, have understood and accepted the importance of accountability and reflection of political balance.''

He commented after the defeat of his motion to replace Mel Collins and Janet Tindall with councillors Samantha Davies and Peter Hills: Every opposition councillor supported my motion, but unfortunately Labour used their majority in the council to defeat it. Sadly their response was typical of the arrogant and contemptuous behaviour we have come to expect from them.''

Leader of the Council, John Chatt responded to the claims on Tuesday night: The board have been taking soundings on this over the last few weeks. They were concerned seven people could be replaced. They were looking for continuity and experience.

The two people have a lot of experience to give. We believe our decision is responsible. We will look at the board again at the AGM next year.''

Deputy Leader, Cllr Colin Ellar, also defended the Labour party's nominations. He claimed replacing four board members in one go would cause too great a disruption: Hounslow Homes requested that we not change all of the people. All the representatives get an awful lot of training, and all that training and experience would be lost if we took them off the board.

Our concern is the efficiency and welfare of the tenants and I don't think the members of the opposition understand that.

There was a shadow board, and some people passed onto the current board, and that happened just at the time of the May election. Some of those people didn't get re-elected because of ward boundary changes. We are making sure there is some degree of continuity. There's no political gain in it for us. It's not a political decision but a pragmatic decision. The Tories just want to make a fuss.''

He added that eventually, all five nominations would be taken from the pool of councillors next year.

May 30, 2003 12:00