11 July 2003
One of England's largest housing stock transfers has hit trouble in its first 100 days, with the Housing Corporation intervening on July 8 to impose four sector heavyweights as board members.
Walsall Housing Trust took over nearly 23,000 homes from Walsall council on April 1. It is the parent of five subsidiary housing associations based in different parts of the town.
The corporation cited concerns about governance standards and relationships between the trust and the five subsidiaries.
It said it acted to safeguard delivery of the trust's £220m programme of property improvements promised to tenants over the next 30 years.
One observer said: 'There was a lot of instability, with a welter of staff on temporary contracts, people coming and going and not a strong enough executive. Some board members had not got a good grasp of governance principles because they were new to it.'
A majority of board members asked the corporation to intervene.
The group's chief executive Kelvin Stacey, who was recruited from leisure group Rank and had no previous housing experience, left last month. He has been replaced temporarily by prominent housing consultant Rodney Dykes.
Dykes said the corporation had acted 'due to concerns about the governance of the parent association and the relationship between the parent and subsidiary trusts'.
The transfer was delayed by disputes last year about the value of the housing stock and by disruption at Walsall council, where the Audit Commission sacked the senior management and imposed a temporary chief executive.
The four new board appointees are: Peter Knight, chair of Prime Focus; David Wilson, chair of Orbit Housing Association; Tom Murtha, chief executive of Keynote Housing; and Chris Almgill, former chief executive of Festival Housing.
A separate 1,800-home transfer to a group of tenant organisations is not affected by the corporation's move.
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