LABOUR councillors claimed this week that balloting tenants on whether they want to stay with Salisbury district council or switch to a housing association would be a £600,000 waste of taxpayers money.

Councillor Steve Fear, Labour group leader, said that an attempt in 1989 to persuade tenants to transfer to an association had failed and that a questionnaire on the latest proposals had resulted in 70 per cent of respondents again saying they wanted to remain with the council.

Although a new ballot on the issue would not take place until 18 months time, he thought there was little chance of getting tenants to change their minds.

"There is a grave risk of wasting taxpayers money on a ballot you are bound to lose," he said.

Labour colleague Mike Osment said: "This council is a good landlord and our tenants will reject a transfer."

But Monday night's full meeting of the Conservative controlled district council decided by 39 votes to 8 to approve a cabinet recommendation that a proposal to transfer the authority's 5,450 homes to a locally-based housing association - probably one set up by the council - should be pursued.

Portfolio holder for community and housing John Cole-Morgan said that the 70 per cent questionnaire figure referred to by Cllr Fear was based on a very low response and felt that, when tenants fully realised what was at stake, they there would be a different outcome. He said a stock option appraisal had shown that if the council retained its housing stock, it would not be able to maintain it to the present standards.

"Over the next ten years there will be a £9.4m capital shortfall and there will also be a revenue shortfall of about £800,000 per year," he added.

"This will result in a reduction in services to tenants, particularly in responsive repairs and estate management. And in the long term, the properties will fall into disrepair."

Cllr Cole-Morgan said tenants would get a better service under a housing association, primarily because a new association would not - as the council has to do - hand over £6m of its rental income every year to the government.

He also pointed to the £45m the council expected to receive from the sale of the housing stock and continuing right-to-buy receipts - saying it could be used to finance the building of several hundred extra affordable homes and creating new community facilities.

Liberal Democrat councillor Colin Mills said a powerful case had been made for a transfer and not to give tenants the chance to vote on it would be a denial of their rights.

Councillors voted to reduce the risk of losing the £600,000 earmarked for setting up the transfer and ballot by having review points in the programme.

This would allow them to drop the whole process should a tenants' 'no' vote look inevitable.