'We were always confident in the principle 'the truth would win through'. If they could have done it honestly; they would have; so it had to be stopped. It was the right decision. Waverley will awkwardly deny everything, and claim the ballot result was 'a vote of confidence in the council'. In truth it is a vote of no confidence in the council and the system; we can no longer believe a word they say.' -- Jeremy Hyman, Tenants WATCH

'This is a massive defeat for the council.' -- Donald Simpson, Waverley council tenant

Despite the false promises of new kitchens and bathrooms, the no-stop propaganda campaign, Waverley council tenants have said no to the sell-off of their homes.

52.75% voted no to privatisation. Of the 4,095 votes cast: 1,936 voted for the sell-off, 2,150 voted against, with 19 spoiled ballots.

But already the petulant David January (head of housing), a very poor loser, is trying to punish tenants, by saying repairs will not be carried out and the tenants will suffer.

January has even had the gall to claim opponents were putting out misinformation.

Having seen some of the garbage January was putting out, it was riddled with misinformation. He also blatantly lied to tenants at public meetings.

Having stomached the garbage from January at a public meeting for an hour or so I stood up to speak.

I had not spoken for more than a few minutes when it became very apparent that I knew what I was talking about and I was making January appear very stupid (the latter not being very difficult).

The response of January, when I refused to be silenced, was to signal his henchman posted around the room to physically eject me from the meeting. Up until then his henchmen had been heckling and abusing anyone who spoke against him.

This drastically backfired on January, when the meeting demanded I stay as they wanted to hear what I had to say.

January then threw a childish tantrum and started to walk out of the meeting.

When it was pointed out to him how childish was his behaviour, he had second thoughts, but only agreed to remain if I remained silent.

So much for an open and fair discussion of the issues.

With the ballot result, once again January has lost.

January has even tried to claim the result was a vote of confidence in the Council. Err, not quite, it was just that the alternative on offer was far worse

Waverley tenants were last balloted five years ago, but already the Council, not accepting the democratic will of the people, is talking about holding another ballot to get the right result.

It looks like Waverley tenants are in for a war of attrition with the Council.

The Council should accept the result, and let their tenants lead their lives without the fear of their homes being privatised.

Waverley lies south and south west of Guildford in Surrey. It consists of Farnham and Godalming and is one of the richest areas in the country, but according to the council cannot afford to maintain and repair its council houses.

Tenants should now be calling for the resignation of David January, Waverley head of housing.


As for the council, they should now respect the wishes of their tenants and not waste any more public money trying to force the tenants down a route they do not wish to go.

Reference

Corina Larby, Tenants vote to ditch housing transfer plan: Council warns of cuts to maintenance, Farnham Herald, 16 December 2005

Keith Parkins, Privatisation of council houses in Waverley, Indymedia UK, 17 February 2004
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/02/285538.html

Keith Parkins, Waverley to force through housing sell off, Indymedia UK, 19 October 2004
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/10/299585.html

Keith Parkins, Waverley propaganda on housing privatisation, Indymedia UK, 22 October 2004
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/10/299941.html

Keith Parkins, Waverley housing privatisation propaganda, Indymedia UK, 26 October 2004
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/10/300102.html

Keith Parkins, Waverley to privatise housing stock, Indymedia UK, 18 January 2005
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/01/303958.html