SPECIAL guidelines de-signed to select suitable tenants for 57 new rented homes and 20 shared ownership properties in Floral Way have been labelled ‘social engineering’ by Test Valley Borough Council’s Liberal Democrat leader Robin Hughes.

The rules have been drawn up to ensure the new community will have a mixture of people rather than be flooded by people at the top of the housing list.

In doing this the authorities hope to avoid problems experienced elsewhere when unbalanced communities have been accommodated in areas of social housing, such as at Valley Park, Chandlers Ford.

“I am quite concerned about this and it looks very much like social engineering,” said Robin Hughes.

“We are going to allow the under-occupation of houses when there is so much over occupation of houses. I am very much against this and would be moving a motion but I can’t and won’t as I don’t want to disappoint prospective tenants who were already written to before the executive met to make this decision.”

Officials should wait until things had been agreed before they wrote to people, he said.

Cllr Marion Kerley, portfolio holder for social wellbeing, said: “In agreeing the local lettings scheme we mean to ensure that the mix of new residents reflects the mix found elsewhere.”

She promised the scheme would only apply to the initial lettings and in future the same rules would apply as elsewhere.

Andover’s Rod Bailey, said: “This is unfair because some of the people going into these homes do not have children and they may simply be going in to gain the right to purchase this kind of property.”

Head of housing, Brian Cowcher, said the new occupants would not be covered by the old right to buy legislation which offered local authority homes on very advantageous terms.

Although they will by law have the ‘right to acquire’ the terms of this deal are not nearly so advantageous and few could be expected to take up the offer.