Warm welcome for Housing Minister

Photo: Picture: ANTHONY MILLER

Pictured (from left) tenants Eva Lewis and Clara Allen, Housing Minister John Healey, tenant Sarah Anderson and Phil Woolas, Labour candidate for Oldham East and Saddleworth, outside Littlemoor House.

HOUSING Minister John Healey was given a warm Oldham welcome when he visited First Choice Homes (FCH) tenants.

The parliamentary candidate for Wentworth enjoyed a chat with tenants and a tour of the newly-refurbished Littlemoor House, off Huddersfield Road.

His visit was on the back of the successful transfer of Oldham Council housing to First Choice Homes after tenants voted in favour of the change over.

A total of £148 million will now be invested in homes and services across Oldham over the next five years and around 12,000 homes directly benefiting.

Mr Healey said: “I’m here to celebrate the success of the ballot, the tenants choice and success of Phil Woolas’s campaign to bring £148 million of investment to council homes.

“Littlemoor House has been refurbished and residents in other blocks can now look forward to their flats being improved in some way.

“I’ve had a warm welcome from tenants on a very cold day. It is the tenants that are right to decide their own future.”

Hugh Broadbent, FCH chief executive, said: “It is nice to be recognised as the first arm’s-length organisations in the country to go through stock transfer.

“The transfer means we can become a housing association and will be able to raise more funds for more schemes, such as improving tenants kitchens and bathrooms that tenants asked for.”

Phil Woolas, Labour candidate for Oldham East and Saddleworth, said: “I lobbied for this stock transfer facility, supported it and persuaded John Healey it was necessary.

“Before, FCH had an annual spend of £9 million a year, now they are able to raise £20 million a year.”

Catch up the with candidates at www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/elections/