Shropshire's Rural Housing Charity

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FOUNDED IN 1975

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Our review of the
past year

2007 - 2008

This last financial year has seen yet more additions to the Association's housing stock and further investment in its existing properties.

On the new development front, the year was crowned by the completion on time in October 2007 of our new scheme of eighteen units at Weston Rhyn. This scheme which comprises six 3 bedroom houses, eight 2 bedroom houses, two 3 bedroom bungalows and two 2 bedroom bungalows was our first to be built with a timber frame construction and the first to achieve the Eco-Homes “Very Good” standard. The result is 18 well insulated homes which loose very little heat or carbon dioxide; heating bills for these homes are therefore low compared with houses built by traditional construction methods.

We were delighted therefore when Mr. Paul Shevlin, Chief Executive of Oswestry Borough Council agreed to formally open the scheme in April. After the opening ceremony, Mrs. Rosemary Abbiss, Chairman of Housing Management made presentation to Mr. & Mrs. Davies and their daughter Bethan who live in one of the 3 bedroom bungalows which the Association was able to have specially adapted to meet Bethan's needs while it was underconstruction.

Further additions to our stock were made when in June of last year we took a long lease from Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council on Cemetery Lodge, a distinctive property which had been adapted to a high standard by the Council to form a 2 bedroom house. This stone built property was once one of the administrative buildings attached to Shrewsbury Cemetery and provides a convenient near to town centre home. Later in March of this year we entered into a long lease, again with Shrewsbury & Atcham on four newly built houses in the Ditherington area of Shrewsbury thus enabling us to provide much needed family accommodation in the town.

Our future development ambitions received a boost when at the end of the financial year we received approval from the Housing Corporation for two new schemes. The first is at Chorley in Bridgnorth District where we will be building four 3 bedroom and two 2 bedroom houses for local families and the other is at Tern Hill in North Shropshire where we are planning four 2 bedroom homes.

While we have been making additions to our stock we have not been neglecting our existing properties. Throughout the year we have continued with our programme of making improvements to a number of homes particularly in our older schemes. As well as continuing with our programme of installing additional insulation to those homes which we judge would benefit most from it, we have installed new double glazed windows in three of our oldest schemes and new kitchens in three other schemes where these were particularly needed.

As for our daily repairs service this has shown further improvement over the previous two years or so, although response times are still not as good as we would like them to be. A lot of this was due to early teething problems with our new contractors who, having taken on the work a very short notice took time to get themselves adequately organised. However, we believe that these difficulties have now been overcome and that response times are much improved.

Outside of its own work the Association has been making contributions to the wider world of housing and to the community it is involved in.

Last year we donated £1,000 to the Shawbury Action Group as a contribution towards the provision of amenities for young people in the Parish.

Earlier in 2008 the Association was represented on the Taylor Review an enquiry by Matthew Taylor MP into the provision of affordable housing in rural areas. The report of that review is due to be published very shortly.

Lastly, together with other Registered Social Landlords, the Association has been maintaining a close watching brief on the preparations for the new unitary authority in Shropshire. We see it as vitally important that the close working relationships we currently enjoy with the existing district councils are not lost once the new authority comes into being.

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