Annual Report 2018-2019

www.shropshirerural.co.uk CONTENT

Chair's Report 4 - 5

A Review Of The Year 7

Developing New Homes 8 - 9

Asset Management & Maintenance 10

Financial Information 12 - 13

Average Rents 13

Performance & Value For Money 14 - 15

Looking Forward 16 - 17

The People 18 - 19 THE KEY TO AFFORDABLE FAMILY HOMES

2 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 3 Chair’s Report BY STEVE PRICE CHAIR OF THE BOARD

Special Thanks Another significant achievement during the year was the As another year passes for Shropshire Rural Housing Association financing arrangements that we put in place to help us deliver our and my own tenure as Chair, it is good to reflect on the progress development and growth ambitions. Our ability to raise significant made by the Association that ultimately serves to deliver our sums of money from private sources at comparatively good rates collective vision of “providing the homes that make Shropshire’s of interest is a very positive endorsement. It was pleasing to rural communities thrive”. learn that the financial institutions that we were working with all expressed a most positive view of how we manage our resources. I cannot write anything further however, without offering a This is a reflection of the prudent approach to our work over many personal thanks to our former Chief Executive, Ian Richardson. years. We manage our financial resources in the most efficient Ian retired in March leaving our Association a legacy of new manner whilst continuing to service, improve and maintain our housing, improved services and a higher profile than when housing stock to the best possible standard. he joined us in 2014. Ian’s departure inevitably left a void, which we had to fill. We were pleased to welcome our new Chief Our Vision Executive, John Green. He brings with him an array of experience Finally, I would like to offer my gratitude to my fellow Board and across the housing sector. Committee members, the staff team, the partner organisations we work with and all of our suppliers who contribute to ensuring we Looking Back continue to progress and develop in pursuance of our vision. 2018/19 was a very successful year. The most significant piece of work we undertook was a full Tenant Satisfaction Survey to gather our tenants’ views on the services we provide and their feelings about our Association. We live in an age when all of us expect increasingly higher levels of service generally, from deliveries of online shopping to telephone applications that let us know to the minute when the train or bus are due to arrive. Technological developments such as these serve to increase expectations for us all. As a housing association that prides itself on service delivery, it is important that we understand the standards of service our tenants expect and that we respond by developing our services accordingly. As we progress into 2019/20, we will be using the data from the Survey to do just that.

4 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 5 A Review Of The Year BY JOHN GREEN CHIEF EXECUTIVE

If you are in the habit of reading Annual Reviews, the purchase of 5 further Section 106 properties in Morda and you will probably agree that the word “challenge” West Felton. A healthy pipeline of opportunities also exists that will can be frequently overused. serve to increase the Association’s stock over the coming years.

As I start writing a review of 2018-19 for Shropshire Rural New Finance Facility Housing, I can honestly say that the biggest challenge for me right Continuing to grow through the development of new homes across now is that, having only joined the Association in February, I am rural Shropshire is one of the Association’s primary objectives for largely having to rely on second hand information and the research the coming years. In order to do this we need the private finance I had to do as part of the recruitment process. available to support our development ambitions and after a stringent due diligence exercise and selection process, we secured And it is that recruitment where I will start as in September 2018, £6million loan funds from GB Social Housing and Lloyds Bank Plc. then Chief Executive - Ian Richardson informed the Board of his intention to take early retirement from March 2019 after 4 years Tenant Satisfaction Survey in the role and a career spanning 40 years in housing. 6 months Alongside our development and growth ambitions, understanding later, after the aforesaid recruitment exercise, I was privileged the needs of our tenants and taking on board their views is to join the dedicated and talented team of members and staff, fundamental to ensuring we continue to providing the best charged with ensuring the Association continues to thrive. possible service we can. During the autumn, we commissioned a tenant satisfaction survey, the results of which we are using to In addition to a new Chief Executive, the year saw Shropshire Rural drive improvements in our service delivery. Housing continue to grow and develop in both size and status. Staff Changes Development In a small team, changes in personnel will inevitably create greater In development terms, working with Morris Homes to deliver the upheaval than in larger organisations. During the year, our staff Section 106 requirement on a prestigious development of houses turnover was higher than we would ordinarily expect or hope for in Shrewsbury, we purchased 2 bespoke properties to be let at an and I have already spoken about my predecessor’s retirement. affordable rent in a converted and extended lodge at the entrance Other colleagues moved on as well during the year and whilst we to the development. A number of other potential developments were sad to see them go, we don’t overlook the positivity of people also progressed during the year, including the re-submission for leaving the association to develop their careers having learned planning approval for 5 new dwellings in Knockin Heath following their trade and developed their skills whilst they were with us. an initial refusal earlier in the year, and successful negotiations for

6 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 7 As we move towards 2019/20, purchases of S106 homes terms needs. This approach enables us to develop strategically, have been agreed for a bungalow in Morda, and 4 houses protecting the association against unforeseen risk and Developing in West Felton. economic fluctuations. Development activity for a small association like ourselves Our longer term “pipeline” which at the end of 2018/19 stood can bring with it risks and some uncertainty. at 12 other potential developments will each be scrutinised However, our position as a specialist provider of rural housing and reviewed and only taken forward if they clearly meet our New Homes gives us a sound framework upon which to test opportunities strategic objectives. against our key objectives, as well as financial viability and long HELPING SHROPSHIRE'S RURAL COMMUNITIES THRIVE

The development of new homes to support our Working with Developers vision of providing the homes to make Shropshire’s Occasionally, we are contacted by developers seeking to work Rural Communities thrive, is one of our key with a registered provider on a bespoke development opportunity. strategic aims as agreed by the Board in 2017. Our recently produced design guide provides a developer with a basis from which to work, ensuring that the end product meets Developing new homes however, is not a one size fits all our requirements. Some of these developments are on Rural approach and we increase our housing stock through a number Exception Sites (sites outside of the development boundary that of different routes. are earmarked for the development of affordable housing), whilst “Traditional” Development others are “Section 106” developments where we work with the Sites where we directly undertake the development – from developer, enabling them to meet their obligations to provide working with architects on the designs to seeking planning affordable housing on new private developments. approval, negotiating the land purchase and procuring the During the year, working with Morris Homes, we were able to construction are generally viewed as the traditional approach to purchase 2 x 1 bedroomed dwellings that formed the S.106 housing development, providing the flexibility of a blank sheet from requirement on a development of private homes for sale on which to start. At SRHA, even as a small housing association, The Mount, Shrewsbury. The new homes called White Lodge, we continue to develop and are working on a number of potential were purchased following a successful negotiation with Morris sites across Shropshire that we expect to come to fruition in Homes and now provide high quality homes for local people. the next 2-3 years.

8 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 9 Asset Management & Maintenance

SHROPSHIRE IS ENGLAND’S LARGEST INLAND COUNTY, AT 1,346 SQUARE MILES

Ensuring our housing stock continues to meet Looking forward in 2019/20 we will be undertaking a stock the legal and regulatory standards providing safe condition survey to identify our planned maintenance and affordable homes for our tenants is a major requirements for future years. As well as carrying out works to part of our focus in Shropshire Rural and during improve energy efficiency in our homes and affordability for our the year we continued to invest in our housing tenants, during the year we also reviewed and updated how we stock including: ensure tenants are safe in our homes.

• The installation of ECO Efficient storage heaters at Mary As a Registered Provider and responsible landlord, health and Webb Close, Pontesbury and Birch Close, Ruyton XI towns. safety in our homes has always been a high priority, but alongside other providers, the current Housing Green Paper “A New Deal • Exterior Painting at: for Social Housing”, and the “Independent Review of Building o Princess Court, Shawbury Regulations and Fire Safety 2018”, has renewed our focus to o Burwarton maximise the opportunities of improving safety in our homes. o Kinlet o Stottesdon This internal review has resulted in measures to install more o Bowmere Heath carbon monoxide detectors, increase the number of electrical o Brockton safety checks, gain a greater understanding of risk and management in relation to legionella, and undertake a full asbestos We were also successful again in securing Eco 3 Grant Funding for survey across our homes. top up cavity wall insulation for 114 properties across the county.

In respect of reactive repairs, we improved or matched response time performance in all repair categories compared with the previous year.

Emergency 2 Day Urgent 7 Day Urgent 28 Day Routine

2018/19 98% 93% 88% 93%

2017/18 96% 90% 86% 93%

We will continue to work on improving response times through ongoing work with contractors and through closer communication with tenants.

10 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 11 Summary of Balance Sheet (as of 31st March 2019) Finance & Value Fixed Assets £18,077,157 Investment Property £181, 905 for Money Net Current Assets £2,760,323 Total Assets less Current Liabilities £21,019,385

Financed by:

Long Term Creditors £15,805,265

Pension Liability £298,000

Called Up Share Capital £20

£1,429,372 £1,395,914 £1,053,810 Income & Expenditure Account £4,916,100

Total Rent & Other Income Gross Rents Receivable Operating Costs Members Funds £21,019,385

Financial Summary - Turnover & Other Income Financial Summary - How Every Pound Is Spent

Rent Receivable £1,338,725 Cyclical/Planned Maintenance £63,819 4.1%

Service Charges Receivable £42,962 Services £82,155 5.2% Average Rents

Management Fee Income £14,227 Responsive Repairs £154,444 9.9% ARCHETYPE / 2018-19 RENT RATES

Gross Rents Receivable £1,395,914 Management £312,787 20%

1 Bed Semi-Detached Bungalow 1 Bedroom House 2 Bed Semi-Detached Bungalow 2 Bed Detached Bungalow Less: rent and service charge losses from voids -£2,493 Bad Debts -£5,450 -0.3%

£1,393,421 Lease Charges £61,296 3.9% £74.81 £82.50 £82.21 £90.74

Other Income £35,951 Development Administration £94,724 6.1%

2 Bed Detached House 3 Bed Semi-Detached Bungalow 2 Bed Terraced House 2 Bed Semi-Detached House Total Rent & Other Income £1,429,372 Expenditure £763,775

Deposit account interest £10,544 Depreciation £289,183 18.4% £107.91 £94.45 £89.44 £89.58

Government grants released £125,336 Bank Charges £852 0.1%

£1,565,252 Operating Costs £1,053,810 3 Bed Semi-Detached House 3 Bed Detached House 4 Bed Semi-Detached House 4 Bed Detached House Loan Interest Payable £224,890 14.4% £97.08 £108.44 £109.29 117.10 Accounts Pension Scheme Interest Liability £6,000 0.3%

Investment in Housing Development £21,225,716 Loss on Disposal of Fixed Assets £8,666 0.6% 1 Bed Flat 2 Bed Flat Overall The above figures are exclusive of charges for additional services Total Rent & Other Income £1,565,252 Surplus for the Period £271,886 17.3% which apply to some, but not all, £66.19 £84.38 £88.67 of Shropshire Rural’s homes. £1,565,252 100.0%

12 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 13 As a small charitable provider of housing and related services, Value for Money (VfM) is an essential ingredient of Performance & all we do. Though smaller and less diverse than many housing providers, we are committed to ensuring that we deliver great value in the work we do. VfM isn’t necessarily about being cheaper; rather it is about getting more from each Value For Money pound spent or spending more but getting a disproportionately greater benefit from that expenditure. ENSURING THAT WE DELIVER GREAT VALUE IN THE WORK WE DO DURING 2018-19 WE HAVE:

Continued to develop new homes with a strong Collected 98.6% (102.49% 2017/18) of the rent due; emphasis on affordable warmth, providing an additional reduced due to Housing Benefit being owed at the 2 additional homes at White Lodge and continued to year-end by Shropshire Council, this was better than pursue development sites with a pipeline of schemes; target of 96%;

Successfully completed the process of raising additional Reduced the average number of days a property finance to secure the development of 35-40 homes remains empty before it is reoccupied; from 16.2 days in over the next 5 years; 2017/18 to 13 days in 2018/19;

Continued to generate Renewable Heat Incentive Continued development of a new and much improved income from our investment in heat pumps and website with a focus on delivering better online continued to improve our average energy efficiency services to tenants, prospective tenants and other rating in support of our commitment to interested parties. affordable warmth; Promoted rent payment options; increasing telephone Deployed our Tenancy Management Officer (TMO) payments and launching on-line payment facilities via to work closely with tenants: maximising income, the new website. assisting with effective budgeting and mitigating the potential impact of the roll-out of Universal Credit;

Participation in the performance benchmarking services provided A full Value for Money Statement is included in our by Acuity continues; enabling the Association to compare its Annual Accounts which are also available on our website: performance with that of similar providers and to better understand www.shropshirerural.co.uk performance and value improvement. A comprehensive customer satisfaction survey was carried out Our financial reporting arrangements enable close scrutiny of our during 2018-19 and we are currently planning actions to address income and expenditure by a Board of independent, voluntary any areas that could be improved and looking to strengthen our members responsible for setting the strategic direction of the involvement with our customers, this work will continue in 2019/20. Association and ensuring that their key objectives are achieved: that focus will be sustained in the year ahead.

14 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 15 Within the strategic aims, in 2019/20 we will be undertaking some specific initiatives:

We will undertake a stock condition survey to help We will develop a communications strategy for the Looking Forward define future planned maintenance and asset Association, and use data from the tenant satisfaction management priorities to ensure our housing stock survey to inform future service developments. THE ASSOCIATION'S STRATEGIC continues to provide affordable and good quality homes. We will be undertaking a market testing exercise for THEMES ARE: legal services in 2019/20, followed by other services in future years to ensure we continue to achieve value for money when purchasing professional services. Property Developing and managing more homes in Rural Shropshire.

We want to help more people to be safe, secure and to thrive in Shropshire’s rural communities. We’ll do this by providing more affordable homes of high quality and managing them well.

Places Helping to make, and keep, villages vibrant places.

We invest to maintain mixed communities and help to avoid people being ‘priced out’. We’ll do this both by providing additional affordable housing and by continuing to invest in our existing housing stock; working closely with Parish Councils and others, wherever possible, to ensure that what we do serves the best interests of local communities,

Public Relations Effectively communicating, developing & promoting our distinctive identity.

We are the longest established and the only traditional housing association with a particular focus on rural Shropshire. We’ll continue to promote what we do both through direct personal contacts and through our website and other forms of communication.

People Having the best team in place to deliver our ambitions

We have great people at Shropshire Rural. Staff and our voluntary Board Members are recruited, trained and developed with a clear purpose: to deliver the best possible service in all aspects of our work. We’ll maintain and develop our team by continuing to recruit the best possible staff and voluntary Members whenever the opportunity arises. We will always supplement our core team by working with consultants, contractors and others who are able to support the delivery of our ambitions

16 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 17 The People WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO

Shropshire Rural Housing Association is managed by a small team of paid staff who are responsible, Steve Price Sam Hine Mark Astley Katrina Baker MBE through the Chief Executive, to a Board of volunteer Members of the Association. Vice Chair of Strategy and Vice Chair of Housing Chair of the Board Vice Chair of the Board Resources Committee Management Committee The Board and its Committees are responsible for setting the strategy and priorities of the Association and for ensuring that the objectives are met.

For 2018-19, the Board of the Association comprised of:

Steve Price Chair of the Board Sam Hine Vice Chair of the Board and Chair of Strategy and Resources Committee Mark Astley Vice Chair of Strategy and Resources Committee Katrina Baker MBE Vice Chair of Housing Management Committee Rachel Danemann Chair of Housing Management Committee Tom Howard Chair of Personnel Committee Matthew Mead Appointed September 2019 Rachel Danemann Tom Howard Matthew Mead Celia Bahrami Chair of Housing Celia Bahrami Appointed September 2019 Chair of Personnel Committee Appointed September 2019 Appointed September 2019 Management Committee Gloria Johnson Appointed June, Resigned March 2019 Ian Davies Appointed February 2019 Andy Vanderhook Resigned June 2018

For 2018-19, the Association’s staff team comprised of eight posts, covered as follows:

Ian Richardson Chief Executive to March 2019 John Green Chief Executive from March 2019 Kate Adams Finance Director and Secretary Annette Hadwen Scheme Manager – Older Persons’ Housing Kathryn Hearne Part-time Finance Officer and part time Tenancy Management Officer to March 2019 Gloria Johnson John Green Kate Adams Annette Hadwen Phillip McVeigh Tenancy Management Officer from March 2019 Appointed June, Chief Executive Finance Director Scheme Manager – Emily Oswald Tenancy Management Officer from July to January Resigned March 2019 from March 2019 and Secretary Older Persons’ Housing Stuart Jobson Asset Manager Linda Talbot Housing Officer Wendy Wainwright Administrative Officer

Financial and legal services have been provided to the Association by the following:

Bankers: National Westminster Bank plc Auditors: DRE & Co, Shrewsbury Solicitors: Wace Morgan, Shrewsbury Lenders: Nationwide Building Society; Orchardbrook/Fresh; GB Social Housing; Lloyds Commercial SME

Phillip McVeigh Stuart Jobson Linda Talbot Wendy Wainwright Tenancy Management Officer Asset Manager Housing Officer Administrative Officer from March 2019 The Association also appreciates the support and assistance provided during the year by a wide range of consultants and contractors.

18 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 www.shropshirerural.co.uk | [email protected] | phone: 01743 874848 19 © Shropshire Rural Housing Association Ltd

The Maltings, 59 Lythwood Road

Bayston Hill

Shrewsbury, SY3 ONA telephone: 01743 874848 | email: [email protected] | www.shropshirerural.co.uk