CAMPAIGNERS have won the battle to keep one of Scotland’s smallest housing associations community-owned and independent.

Reidvale Housing Association was born of community organisation in 1975, when residents pulled together to save the tenement buildings of Dennistoun in Glasgow’s East End, going on to refurbish 900 homes and maintain the lowest social rents in Scotland.

Despite having no debt, management at the organisation argued that a merger was the only way to secure cash for future improvements, proposing a deal with one of the largest housing providers in Britain, Places for People (PfP), which would exchange ownership of its £100 million stock for £13m in investment.

But after a residents’ campaign to retain community control and ownership, backed by local Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, shareholders ditched the deal.

Mr Sweeney told a rally of residents after Monday’s decisive meeting: “This is Glasgow at its best: people power on the streets.

“Many people who had worked for years in housing had thought that this was a foregone conclusion, that Reidvale was dead. It’s very much alive, as you guys proved tonight.”

Kirye, who has lived in the area with her family for 25 years, told the Star of her “resounding relief” at the result.

She said: “Residents were scaremongered into PfP initially with false figures, hidden information and a well-orchestrated, sly campaign. They bulldozed their way in and now Reidvale residents are united in standing up to them. 

“Everyone who voted No can hold their heads high for doing the right thing: bravo, Reidvale residents.”