The official line from the council, the Scottish Executive and the Glasgow Housing Association is that the transfer will be complete "by the end of the year", not the previously stated 28 November deadline.
But a leaked internal GHA report from project-management consultant Currie & Brown has suggested the transfer may not even be completed this year.
Nationalist politicians have demanded a re-ballot of Glasgow's tenants, and Scottish Nationalist Party Glasgow MSP Sandra White threatened to refer the issue to the auditor-general as a "misuse" of taxpayers' money.
Meanwhile, the Glasgow Campaign Against Housing Stock Transfer said it will challenge the transfer in court if the November target is missed. Chair Sean Clerkin said: "We are absolutely convinced Glasgow's stock will not transfer this year – or any year."
The leaked report, Project Plan Review, is scathing: "Dates are unrealistic. November will not be achieved," it says.
Our campaign is convinced Glasgow’s stock will not transfer this year – or any year
Sean Clerkin, transfer opponent
It says that the December deadline is unlikely because of the Christmas holidays. It warns that transfer may not be complete even as late as 27 January, two months after the target deadline.
The report says most of the project's 20 "work-stream tasks" are behind schedule.
It predicts the target date for formal approval is likely to slip from 14 November to 14 January and says: "Alterations to the assets transferring will cause the process to be delayed beyond late November. Transfer will be delayed as a result."
On the transfer's finances, it identifies a funding gap – reportedly £100m – and says: "Registration and formal approval cannot be achieved. 28 November transfer is not achievable." The report repeats this comment for the second-stage transfers.
But for three work-stream tasks – transfer documentation, funding due diligence and the housing association's interim staff structure – the consultants suggest the transfer could also miss the January date. "Any further delay could mean that January 27, 2003, is not achievable," the report says.
Source
Housing Today
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