COUNCIL house tenants are facing tough decisions as local authorities consider turning their homes over to private housing associations.

Residents from Shildon will discuss the future of the town's council homes at a meeting this week, as Sedgefield Borough Council considers its options under the Decent Homes policy laid down by the Government.

The policy states that all council houses should be brought up to a decent standard by 2010, and standards should be raised in houses in deprived areas by 2004.

One possible way of achieving those targets is for the local authority to transfer the management of council houses to private housing associations, or for tenants to form their own.

Representatives from Sedgefield council will attend a meeting tomorrow at the Salvation Army Centre, Cross Street, Shildon, at 6.30pm, to allay residents' concerns.

Joyce Snell, of Shildon Residents' Association, which called the meeting, said: "There are some important decisions that residents will have to make and they need to come along to understand what is going on.''

Dennis Scarr, council housing policy officer, said tenants would be consulted before any decisions were made.

He said: "We have appointed an independent tenant advisor and there will be a series of meetings explaining the options. The tenants' decision is final.''

Local authorities will submit housing strategy business plans to the Government this month.

A survey has been carried out on homes in the Sedgefield and Wear Valley district council areas, looking at what repairs are needed and the resources available.

Mr Scarr said the condition of Sedgefield council's homes was better than the national average.

Michael Kelleher, head of Neighbourhood Operations for Wear Valley council, said 50 per cent of homes met Government standards and this put the council ahead of schedule.

If authorities cannot reach the targets, they can get additional resources from the Government through a new scheme called Arms Length Management Organisations, but they must be able to prove the money will be managed efficiently. Another option - not favoured - is looking at ways of using the private sector