Chair's Blog - October 2024

I’m excited to share some key highlights from our recent Community Gateway Board meeting in October.

A very warm welcome to our two newest Board Members, Allen Barber, who joins us as an Independent Board Member, and Lisa Breeze, our new Co-optee Board Member. It was their first meeting, and we’re excited to have their fresh perspectives, helping to shape our work. I’m also pleased to share that both Michelle Allott and I were reappointed as Vice Chair and Chair respectively.

At the meeting, we reviewed feedback from the Annual General Meeting, and it’s been overwhelmingly positive. Your input will help us plan even better events in the future. I’d like to personally thank all of you, who took the time to attend or vote in advance. Your views are incredibly important, and it was great speaking with so many of you on the day.

Your involvement is at the heart of what makes Community Gateway successful. Whether it’s through bite-sized engagement opportunities or more strategic roles, like participating in Spotlight sessions or Gateway Central, your contribution matters. That’s why we’re currently recruiting for a Tenant Board Member, and I can say from personal experience that being a Board Member is a deeply rewarding role. It’s a chance to help shape the future of Community Gateway, hold the Executive Leadership Team to account, and build your skills in the housing sector.

Looking ahead, we also discussed how we are preparing for an inspection from the Regulator of Social Housing, who makes sure we are delivering our services in the right way, helping us to make sure our processes and services are the best they can be. This covers everything from how we allocate tenancies, to the quality and safety of your homes, handling complaints, and how we engage with you. All this reflects the new consumer standards that were launched earlier this year. Our goal is to ensure we meet these standards, and we’re actively identifying any areas for improvement so we can address them promptly.

On the financial front, we received an update, which shows we’re still in reasonable shape despite a challenging operating and economic environment. The same goes for our service transformation strategy – it’s encouraging to see the strides being made in improving our services to you.

Finally, we received an update on development and regeneration. Our long-term programme of house building, and regeneration is on track and we’re looking forward to seeing these plans come to life over the coming years.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog – I hope you found it interesting and informative. I look forward to sharing more updates with you after our next Board meeting in November.