COUNCIL house tenants on the North Yorkshire coast are in favour of a new local housing association being set up to manage their homes, a survey has found.

Scarborough borough councillors have begun an initiative that will decide the future of housing stock.

Tenants of the authority's 5,000 houses are to be given the opportunity to transfer to a different landlord.

An independent tenants' advisor, PS Consultants, has been working with tenants on the transfer options.

These include transferring to an existing national housing association; to a local group of a regional association; or to a newly-formed local association. Market research carried out with more than 1,000 tenants showed they were in favour of the latter.

The council said it would now set up a "shadow" unpaid board of a housing association, comprising five councillors, five tenants and five local people with relevant expertise.

The prospective association would then put an offer to every tenant, giving details of issues such as home improvements, rents, and the right to buy.

A secret ballot of all tenants would then take place in December to decide if they want to transfer to the new local housing association.