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In some
respects this past year has been a relatively quiet
one for the Association as we have waited for various
initiatives that we have taken to come to fruition and
also to see how changes being planned for the various
outside bodies that we deal with will affect us.
As she mentions in her introduction, perhaps the
highpoint of the year
 was
in October when Heather Kidd, the Association's Chairman
cut the first turf to mark the beginning of the
construction of our new scheme at Chorley near
Bridgnorth. This scheme is being built to the
government's Code for Sustainable Homes (Level 3) which
will ensure that the new homes cause the minimum of
damage to the environment and give off much lower CO2
than would usually be the case. To achieve this, because
there is no mains gas available in Chorley, we had to
specify ground source heat pumps to provide the main
source of heating for the dwellings. The photograph
shows the installation of the ground source heat pumps.
The scheme is due to be completed in the autumn of this
year and will be let to local people from within and
around Chorley.
In connection with the need to reduce carbon emissions
as well as tackle fuel poverty among residents, we have
been monitoring the cost of heating bills at our new
scheme at Weston Rhyn which was built to an earlier
sustainability standard “Eco Homes (Very Good)”. So far
as we can gather, heating bills in these homes are
significantly lower than they might otherwise have been
considering particularly the cold winter we experienced
during January and February.
In last year's report we mentioned the challenges that
we faced arising from the credit crisis and the
accompanying recession. In the event, we believe that we
have dealt with these successfully. Our tight financial
controls together with a movement of cost trends in our
favour have combined to see a further strengthening of
our Balance Sheet and a significant increase in our
reserves. This is in spite of the fact that we have
continued to invest heavily in improvements to our
existing stock as well as in developing new homes.
Pictures
of our nearly completed scheme at Chorley near
Bridgnorth
So confident
were we that our financial strategy was working well
that when we came to review our rents for the year
2009-2010, we decided not to increase them up to the
level that we could have done using the formula
recommended by the former Housing Corporation. If we had
used that, then rents would have been increased by 5.5%
with effect from the 1st April 2009.
Instead, we opted to increase them by a more modest 3%.
In that way, we hope to have made things a little easier
for those feeling the effects of the current economic
climate.
Earlier in
this report we mentioned changes to outside
organisations with which we need to work. Since this
Association was first formed it has been both funded and
regulated by the Housing Corporation, a quasi-government
organisation established for that purpose. At the end of
November 2008, the Housing Corporation was wound up and
its powers and duties transferred to two new bodies.
The first of these is the new Homes and Communities
Agency which has been formed by merging the former
Housing Corporation's funding role with the work of
English Partnerships which dealt with the more
commercial and infrastructure side of property
investment.
The second is the newly created Tenants Services
Authority which has the role of regulating housing
associations and safeguarding the interests of their
tenants.
At the end of the financial year we are still waiting
for these two bodies to fully establish themselves
before we can see quite how they will affect us.
Closer to home, we have watched with close interest, the
preparations being made for formation of the new
Shropshire Council and the winding down of the five
District Councils which it will replace; Bridgnorth,
North Shropshire, Oswestry, Shrewsbury & Atcham and
South Shropshire. It is obviously difficult and
dangerous to pre-judge but our initial impressions are
that the declared policies and strategies of the new
council will help us considerably in our work.
Lastly, at the end of the financial year we said goodbye
to Gordon Parkes, our Financial Accountant for the past
six years, who has taken retirement. In his place we
welcome Mrs. Rachael Fullwood who joins us from the
commercial sector. We wish Gordon a long and happy
retirement and Rachael, every success in her new career. |
