As a council tenant and chairman of a recent tenants conference, I would like to reply to Councillor Peter Willows concerning the future of council housing (Letters, May 18).

He is correct on one point - the element of government blackmail under a policy that was initiated by a previous Tory administration.

Like most tenants, I strongly resent this. However, it does not, of itself, invalidate the various options.

He incorrectly complains of a lack of information for the tenants in his ward, then advises them to ignore it and reject any alternative to "staying as we are".

Such advice effectively disempowers tenants who need to consider all aspects of the options for the future of their homes to be able to make a balanced judgment.

Coun Willows believes tenants "will be best served by remaining under the control of a democratically-elected local authority".

I am not sure that tenants wish to be controlled by anyone.

Tenants, not councillors, are the experts on their own homes and more and more are beginning to look seriously at options that will allow them to take control into their own hands. It will be some months before the full facts concerning the different options and how they might affect Brighton and Hove tenants are known.

Personally, I am keeping an open mind while learning as much as I can so that when the time comes to vote, I will be in a position to either accept or reject whatever is proposed on the basis of real knowledge, not emotion, half-truths and political rhetoric.

-John Jolliffe, Brighton