A BID to transfer 2,000 council homes in Richmondshire to a housing association have been shelved.

A full meeting of the local authority ratified a previous vote by the housing committee to abandon consultation on the project after an initial survey showed almost half the district's tenants opposed the idea while many of the remainder were little more than ambivalent.

The move could have raised more than £12m for Richmondshire District Council, although Government guidelines would have prevented the authority from embarking on a spending spree.

Much of the cash would have been used to clear debts while the remainder would have been locked in the council's reserves.

However, proceeding with phase two of a complex consultation exercise could also have cost the authority as much as £300,000.

The cash could not be recouped if, at the end of the exercise, the tenants then voted for the status quo.