A DELAY to a vote on transferring Gwent’s last remaining council houses to a social landlord is provoking a war of words between Caerphilly council’s two main parties.

Plaid Cymru accused Labour members of trying to “frustrate democracy”

by delaying the vote of tenants in the council’s 10,980 properties.

Labour members hit back, saying the ruling Plaid and independent coalition is “out of touch” with the mood of tenants and have called for a report on the possibility of council houses remaining in the hands of the local authority.

Deputy leader of the labour group, Cllr Gerald Jones said many tenants are happy with the current system and must have the “full facts” before voting.

The stand-off arose after a meeting last week when council members were shown the offer document, which will be given to tenants before a ballot on transferring.

It contains 85 pages outlining the benefits of a transfer to housing association Castell Mynydd, which would be able to pump £173 million into the stock in the next five years, bringing properties up to the standard required by the Welsh Government.

The document states the local authority is unable to borrow enough money to meet the Welsh Housing Quality Standard for 30 years from 2012.

It says Castell Mynydd could bring all homes up to standard by 2017 and it proposes a ballot at the end of the year.

But, the process was delayed after the Labour group called for a report outlining how the local authority could meet the standard itself by 2019.

Council leader and Plaid councillor Allan Pritchard said Labour members have tried to “frustrate democracy”.

He said tenant panel representatives were “furious” with Labour’s “blocking tactics”, saying they are keen to vote.

He said more delays could see the vote postponed until after next year’s council elections.

Cllr Jones responded, saying: “Talking to tenants, many are reasonably happy with the current system.

Not all the information is on the offer document and they deserve to know.” Caerphilly is Gwent’s only local authority not to have transferred its stock.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Fast decision is best for all

WITHIN local democracy one of the crucial roles of opposition is to question the choices made by the ruling party about matters of public interest.

There are fewmore important matters than people’s homes, so we think it is no bad thing that within Caerphilly a serious debate (or rowas it is more usually known) has arisen between the ruling Plaid and independent coalition and the Labour opposition.

The coalition wants to push ahead with transferring its housing stock of 10,980 homes to housing association Castell Mynydd. This would bring it into line with the other four Gwent councils and mean maintenance and repairs worth £173 million could, it claims, be completed by 2017.

It claims that it would be unable to borrow the necessary cash for repairs within the next 30 years.

The opposition Labour group disputes this, saying it believes the money could be found to allowfor the work to be completed by 2019.

The coalition is nowaccusing Labour of stalling tactics that could lead to a decision being delayed until next year’s elections.

We wouldn’t take sides on this issue.

What is important here is the quality of life enjoyed by the tenants in their homes.

Clearly the other councils in Gwent felt that a move to a social landlord would be better for tenants and the rest of the council tax payers.

Labour in Caerphilly thinks differently.

It is perfectly entitled to do so, provided it is not acting with purely political motives.

We suggest that whatever report it is calling for into the potential transfer has a fairly rigid deadline that will allowa decision to be made within the next few weeks.

Hopefully that would see honour satisfied all round.