The signs aren't good

I am very pleased that city councillors have voted unanimously to keep our housing stock.

This was despite months of considerable pressure from the Labour Government to sell it. Now the challenge for the council is to look after not just the houses but the tenants who live in them.

The signs aren't good. The council needs to find huge sums of money locally for the upkeep of the stock because Gordon Brown has made it clear he won't cough up any cash for this.

But in finding the money, there is a danger that services to tenants will be starved of funding.

We Liberal Democrats believe that alongside the commitment to replace outdated kitchens and bathrooms, there should be another priority -- to safeguard services for tenants.

That might sound commonsense but other parties don't seem willing to sign up to such a commitment.

I have urged the council to put money into replacing broken fences, a real bugbear for tenants and something which Labour recently decided tenants should do themselves at their own cost.

Labour, supported by the Independent Working Class Association, voted down the Lib Dem proposal.

For them, good services and decent homes are a case of 'either/or'.

It is as if tenants are greedy to want both. We can't agree. It's not greedy, it's what Oxford's tenants deserve. David Rundle (Councillor), Deputy Leader, Liberal Democrat Group, Oxford City Council