THE era of municipal housing in Ilkley has come to an end with the sell-off of the area's 400 properties this week.

In a move goes against the previous tide of local government, Bradford Council has sold off all of its 25,000 properties for around £70 million - an average of £2,600 each.

It is the second biggest council house transfer in the country, following the sell-off of 33,000 homes in Sunderland.

The houses have been bought by the Bradford Community Housing Trust Group (BCHTG), a not for profit umbrella group for six housing trusts, including the Aire-Wharfe Community Housing Trust - responsible for Ilkley's former council properties.

The move, which will be partly financed by the Nationwide Building Society, will see the release of £175 million over the next five years for every house to be brought up to a reasonable standard.

And tenants, whose representatives sit on the trust boards, have been promised that rent rises will be pegged back to just above inflation for the next five years.

Former Bradford Council housing director Geraldine Howley, who is now the £90,000-a-year chief executive of BCHTG, said: "Transfer marks a new start for tenants."

Bradford Council chief executive Ian Stewart said: "This is a historic moment for our tenants as the first council properties were built nearly a century ago.

"I would like to thank the council's tenants, housing management staff and the unions who have all worked together to ensure the transfer went ahead smoothly.

"There has been a collective commitment to successfully delivering one of the country's first and biggest transfers. The changes will give tenants a better quality service."

The stock transfer also means the transfer of 900 former Bradford Council housing workers who are now employed by the new trust group.

Ilkley District Councillor Martin Smith is the chairman of the BCHTG. He said that orders will be placed by the housing trusts for repair work contracts this week.

He said that the bulk of the repair work to bring houses up to scratch would include roofing, windows, kitchens and electrical wiring. Coun Smith said that around 10,000 of the 25,000 houses in the district should be brought up to standard within the first five years.

"The service to the tenants will be improved markedly over the next six weeks and hopefully work will be carried out quicker," said Coun Smith.

He added: "There will be a busy time ahead but I am looking forward to it and I am sure the boards are looking forward to it. We will have the money to do the job and that has been the biggest problem in the past."

The chairman of the Aire Wharfe Trust is Ilkley Parish Councillor Gerald Goldsbrough. He told the Gazette he was optimistic about the future.

Coun Goldsbrough, who is also a tenant of his own trust, said: "Everything has been sorted out and we know where we are going.

"It has all been costed and designed. All we have to do now is to put it in operation and sort out the glitches as they arise. As far as I can see it will be a good thing for the tenants all round."

One of the reasons for local authorities coming into being was to sort out the chaos, disease and misery in large cities and towns caused by slum housing rented from private landlords.

The idea was to provide subsidised decent housing for rent for working class people who could not afford to buy their own property.

But after facing a barrage of complaints and an auditor's savage report four years ago, Bradford Council was forced to admit it had failed its tenants.

This failure gave impetus to the idea of the radical step of selling off all the housing stock. In a ballot held in March last year tenants voted in favour of the transfer.

Government Housing Minister Tony McNulty said he was in favour of the transfer.

He said: "The housing transfer will provide high quality and sustainable social housing in Bradford."