Council housing tenants and leaseholders in East Kent are being asked for their views on new plans to improve their council housing services.

A consultation booklet is being sent out this week to all council tenants and leaseholders across the area, which explains the plans and lists local events, where people can come and speak to housing staff about what’s being proposed.

The four councils of Canterbury, Dover, Shepway and Thanet are proposing to set up an 'arms length management organisation' (ALMO), which would jointly manage council housing services in East Kent providing day to day services, such as repairs and rent collection, and dealing with tenancy matters and issues such as anti-social behaviour. The ALMO would be jointly owned by all four councils. Each council would be represented on the Board of the new organisation as would tenants from the four different council areas. The remainder of the Board would be made up of independent members that would bring skills to the organisation to complement those of the tenants and councillors. Housing staff currently working for the four councils would transfer to the new organisation.

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By providing services in this way, the councils believe that major improvements and savings will be made. It's estimated that at least £1.5 million will be saved over the next few years, which by law, must be re-invested into improving council housing services. More substantial savings will also be achieved in later years through improved repairs contracts and bringing together administrative services.

Many other councils have set up ALMOs to look after their council housing and tenants' representatives from East Kent have visited some of these to find out if the service has improved as a result. This will be the first time that an ALMO has been set up jointly with other councils.

A project spokesperson said: "This project is all about improving the service that council housing tenants and leaseholders receive. We know that we can make savings by working together and that the money saved will be re-invested to provide a better service. The whole reason we are doing this is to create a housing service to be proud of and one that is rated amongst the best in the country.

"These exciting proposals will also give tenants and leaseholders more say and more involvement in how their homes are managed. It is important to remember that this is about how we manage our council housing. Key decisions about council housing and who is allocated a council home will still be made by the local Council."

(CD/GK)