When they exercised their vote last year they were supposed to elect to change their landlord to an untested housing association, the majority of whose board members would have been appointed, not elected.

Instead they ignored the offers of extra cash from the government and decided to stay with Highland Council, a case of the devil they knew and could influence at the ballot box.

Unfortunately for them this was not what the Westminster government wanted. Housing stock transfer would have seen the council's £160 million housing debt disappear from the public finances, enabling it to be paid off without adding to the officially recorded national deficit. By staying with the local authority, the debt remains on the Treasury's slate.

As a result the council spends millions of pounds servicing the debt and does not have sufficient money left to undertake repairs and bring all its housing stock up to modern standards.

Of course the Treasury could still wipe out the debt if the political will existed. After all, it set aside its fiscal rules and found £2.7 billion earlier this week to head off a backbench rebellion over the axing of the 10p tax rate. But housing stock transfer was never primarily about the interests of tenants and the issue is not likely to affect the outcome of the forthcoming Crewe and Nantwich by-election.

Liberal Democrat MPs Danny Alexander, Charles Kennedy and John Thurso had this confirmed on Wednesday when they met chief secretary to the treasury Yvette Cooper to press for the debt to be dropped. By all accounts she was sympathetic, but ultimately promised nothing.

The best she could do was suggest that the MPs approach the department for communities and local government and the Scottish Government, neither of which is in a position to pull £160 million out of its back pocket.

Yet at the same time politicians of all colours are seeking to address the lack of affordable housing, a problem that is likely to become increasingly acute as mortgages get harder to come by. Low cost homes are precisely what the council provides and it would be able to help build more if released from the strait jacket of debt repayments.

How long will it be before ministers realise that spending £160 million on clearing the Highland housing deficit might just be a sensible investment?

End the uncertainty

CONSULTATION has begun on the route of the trunk link route around Inshes, but many questions still remain for people living in the area.

First amongst these is whether their homes face being demolished — or relocated if you prefer council-speak — and if not how close the new by-pass will be to their front doors.

Given the length of time this project has been in the planning, it is unacceptable that the local authority has allowed new homes, businesses and even a church to be built in the area during the interim. A corridor should have been assigned inside which no new development was allowed. As well as saving disruption to individuals, such a move would have saved the taxpayer a considerable sum in compulsory purchase and compensation payments.

Now the process has started, the preferred route should be chosen as quickly as possible to avoid further uncertainty.

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