Thursday, 02 September 2010

No room for lobby group on sounding board

30 November 2007 | Updated: 10 June 2008 7:57 pm

A sounding board has been set up to help the government create the National Tenant Voice....

A sounding board has been set up to help the government create the National Tenant Voice, a new body that aims to represent tenant interest.

The National Consumer Council - one of the main groups which lobbied for the creation of the tenant voice - has not been invited to join.

Phil Morgan, chief executive of the Tenant Participation Advisory Service England, said he had asked the Communities and Local Government department to include the NCC on the project group.

Junior housing minister Iain Wright this week wrote to four tenant organisations, including TPAS, inviting them to set up the working group.

However, the CLG was 'in discussion' with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform about the role the consumer council could play regarding the NTV.

Any potential role would have to be 'consistent with' new duties and powers given to the consumer council by Parliament earlier this year, he explained.

The consumer council's chief executive Ed Mayo said he understood that the project group was just for organisations which directly represent tenants.

'We haven't been invited but we warmly welcome it and will be happy to make an input if requested to do so.'

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