Listening to the Residents in Borehamwood

The consultations are taking place under the “Step Forward” campaign being run by William Sutton from the West Country to the North East for the residents of their more than 20,000 homes. Five consultation meetings will take place in Borehamwood together with other meetings across Hertfordshire.

Housing Director for the South Region of William Sutton Homes, Michelle Reynolds said: “We consider consultation with residents to be one of our number one priorities. Following the merger of Ridgehill and William Sutton Homes this is a major opportunity for residents of both organisations to give us their views.

“We want to review how residents can become involved in the way in which William Sutton Homes manages its homes and estates and provides its services. We will provide a range of options for residents to become involved in the work we do.

“It is really important that residents attend these consultations,” said Michelle.
“Altogether, we are holding over 60 of these consultations across the country and the feedback will form an important part of how we form policies on resident consultation and involvement in the future.”

The consultation period will last for three weeks with the final meeting in South Shields in mid November. Every resident will have access to a final report from the consultation exercise.

Ends

Notes to Editors

William Sutton Homes was created earlier this year and combines the heritage of William Sutton with the stock transfer roots of Ridgehill. We now have a range of over 20,000 homes throughout England, from Plymouth to Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

• We currently have an ambitious plan to develop over 1,000 new properties through 2006/2008;
• Under The Housing Corporation’s 2006/2008 National Affordable Housing Programme we secured grant funding of over twice our previous level;
• 91% of our homes already meet the Government’s Decent Home Standard;
• We invested £19 million in our residents’ homes during the last year including kitchen, bathroom, heating and window replacement programmes;
• Our regeneration work is complemented through investing in our communities and last year we contributed £1.6 million to community projects and initiatives, and
• Our annual turnover is £73 million.

William Sutton Homes is part of Affinity Sutton, one of the largest independent providers of affordable housing in the country, with 50,000 homes spread across more than 100 local authorities. Group turnover for 2006/2007 was £200 million and surpluses are used to benefit our residents through investing in local communities and contributing to our active development programme.