ONCE again we (council tenants) have been sent another paper from Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council.

In the paper "Your rent -- Government Guidelines", we are told the Government's aims are that "there should be a closer link between rents and the qualities which tenants value in properties".

This means that any work carried out on council properties will have to be paid for by council tenants -- by way of higher rents. Why? Noel Spencer, Housing Chief, has long claimed that the ALMO (Bolton at Home) would bring in extra Government money to "deal with a massive backlog of repairs to thousands of homes", and that "all 22,000 of Bolton's council homes will get new doors, windows, kitchens and bathrooms".

"Your rent -- Government Guidelines" also told us that "unjustifiable differences between the rents set by local authorities and by registered social landlords (Housing Associations) should be removed".

In other words, the Government is claiming that lower rents for council tenants are "unjustifiable", and will have to be raised.

This claim is totally false. The reason why council tenants pay lower rents than housing association/private tenants is because council housing -- decent, affordable homes for all who need them -- is one of the pillars on which the Welfare State was built -- and should remain so!

Bolton council has also recently sent ballot papers to all 22,000 council properties, to give us the opportunity to elect tenant members for its Arm's Length Management Organisation (ALMO).

Yet the council has always denied us the opportunity for a ballot on whether or not we wanted the ALMO (Bolton at Home) in the first place. The reason for this is because many tenants are aware that the ALMO will be a halfway house to full privatisation of council housing in Bolton.

Finally, the ALMO was not forced on the council by central government. Bolton's New Labour councillors made all the running.

David Sumner

Metfield Place

Bolton