“Both
associations have a proud
track record of delivering high
quality services, new homes and
investment in neighbourhoods.
We believe that coming together
will put us in a really strong position
to respond to the opportunities
and needs in the communities
we both serve.”
David Ashmore,
Westlea Housing chief executive
“We believe that combining our
strengths with those of Westlea
will mean we can provide better
services to residents, build more
new homes and reduce costs.
Put simply, we are sure we can
achieve more together than we
could alone.”
Jonathan Higgs,
OCHA chief executive
ARCHIVE
Read
the partnership newsletters
sent to
Westlea residents in 2007:
Latest edition – November 2007
Update for residents No.3
(PDF file)
Latest
edition – September 2007*
Update for residents No.2
(PDF file)
First
edition – June 2007
Update for residents No.1
(PDF file)
*Supporting documents, mentioned in this update,
are available at the bottom of this page
We are really keen
to listen to
your views, ideas and suggestions,
so please get in touch if there’s
something that you want to tell us.
Use
our online feedback
form to send us your views:
click
here to open the feedback
form in a new window
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Questions & Answers
for Westlea Residents
What will the new organisation be like?
Westlea and OCHA will still operate under their own names and with
their own identities within the new group. The new combined group will
have over 350 employees, manage 9000 homes, and be growing at the rate
of 400 homes a year.
Who are OCHA?
They are a housing association who provide over 2,800 homes in Oxfordshire.
They are very similar to us – they rent and build homes. Like
us, they are also very focused on excellent customer service and community
development. You can find out more from their website: www.ocha.org.uk
Why are we doing this?
Forming a partnership means that we can provide better services, build
more homes and save money. We can use this money to build even more
homes that are affordable for local people. We need to grow to get funding
and to be able to compete with other, larger housing associations and
private developers. We can achieve a lot more together than we could
by ourselves.
How will this affect you?
Not very much at all. You will still talk to the same people that you
do at the moment. We will still rent out homes and repair homes in the
way that we do at the moment.
Where will the offices be?
Our main office will still be at Methuen Park in Chippenham, and you
can still visit us here. We are looking at opening another smaller office
in Swindon because of the increasing amount of work we are doing there.
When will it happen?
GreenSquare Group will begin in
April 2008.
Senior
staff appointed to run GreenSquare Group
After a rigorous and transparent recruitment process in late 2007, David
Ashmore was appointed to be GreenSquare Group Chief Executive Designate
from April 1st
2008; Ann Cornelius as Westlea Managing Director; Andrew
Smith as OCHA Managing Director; Vic O'Brien as Group
Development Director; Lisa Whordley Hughes as Group Corporate
Services Director; and Tim Jackson as Group Finance & IT
Director.
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