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Bracknell Forest Council:
Nick Ross explains housing transfer (DVD sent to every tenant)
Bracknell Forest Council needed to transfer its housing stock to a new housing association, in order to raise enough money to improve the homes and the services for tenants.
The transfer could not go ahead unless tenants wanted it to. So, the council asked us to produce a DVD to explain the complex issues to tenants.
We asked BBC presenter Nick Ross to appear in the DVD investigating the pros and cons of transfer. This involved head-to-head interviews with councillors and officers, inter-cut with footage of housing around the area and graphics to underline the important detail.
We sent the DVD to each one of the council's 6,000 tenants - including a sub-titled version for people with hearing difficulties.
A few months later, the majority of tenants voted Yes for transfer in a ballot - and Bracknell Forest Homes was launched.
“The result was a 70% turnout and nearly 76% in favour of transfer. I am sure this result was in no small part due to the very compelling DVD. We received very positive feedback about the content and how easy it was to understand.” Mike Morrisey, Bracknell Forest Council
Over the years, Sightline has produced similar DVDs for around 200 councils and housing organisations across England. We are now considered to be the experts in this field.
