COUNCIL tenants are being urged to vote against proposals by their local authority to transfer its housing stock.

The TUC and Unison have called a public meeting to discuss the future of Sedgefield Borough Council's housing stock, on Tuesday, in Spennymoor Town Hall, at 6pm.

The unions are urging residents to say "no" to what they say is privatisation of council housing. The meeting comes after the borough council launched a consultation exercise to determine the future of its homes.

Earlier this year, the council decided to pursue stock transfer from three options.

This would mean it would transfer its 9,200 houses to a housing association, but it has maintained that this will not happen without the approval of tenants.

In a leaflet to tenants, the TUC and Unison are urging people to stick with the council.

The leaflet states: "Sedgefield Borough Council can afford to meet the decent homes standard out of its own resources without needing to transfer its stock at all.

"The council's own survey shows that 96 per cent of tenants want to stay with the council.''

The leaflet gives examples of districts that have opted to stay with their local authorities.

"In Darlington, the council realised how deeply unpopular transfer was among its tenants and has just chosen to keep its own stock and use prudential borrowing to raise the extra money needed for improvements."