Wythenshawe Community Housing Group
Board Governance

Wythenshawe Community Housing Group Ltd is a charitable community benefit society and is a not-for-profit provider of social housing and is registered with the Regulator of Social Housing as a social landlord.

WCHG has two subsidiary companies, Garden City Design & Build Limited, a development company, and Garden City Trading Limited, a non-charitable property company. Neither subsidiary is regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing.

The Group Board comprises Non-Executive board members and is responsible for managing the affairs of the Group.

GROUP BOARD

The Group Board comprises of Non-Executive Board members and is responsible for providing leadership to the organisation and setting company values to be delivered in the long term. This includes governance, the approval of new Group policies and strategies, and the approval of any refinancing of loans or major changes to the Group’s business plan.

There are four committees of the Board; Customer Experience Committee, Audit and Risk Committee, Remuneration and Governance Committee, and Development Committee.

The Board meets six times a year. Each committee meets between four and six times a year.

Nick Crofts, Chair of the Board/Group Remuneration and Governance Committee Member

Nick has more than eight years’ leadership experience in social housing, having held the positions of Deputy Chair of Cobalt Housing and Chair of Venture Housing, both based in the North West. He is also currently CEO of the Co-op Foundation - one of the region’s best-known charities - and has served as a city councillor in Liverpool for 10 years.  Nick was appointed Chair of the Board on the 31 March 2022.

Tony Bell, Board Member/Chair of the Group Audit & Risk Committee

Tony is a qualified accountant with more than 20 years’ experience at board level in the further education sector, with roles including managing director, group commercial director, vice principal and director of finance.

Tony has close links with the local community borne from his voluntary role as deputy chair of an dual-location enterprise park in Manchester which provides work space and business support to 200 small and medium-sized enterprises.

Michelle Gregg, Board Member (Vice Chair)/Chair of the Customer Experience Committee/Group Remuneration and Governance Committee Member

Michelle lives locally and has worked in the housing sector for more than 35 years. She started her career working in Housing Aid for Trafford Council and has held a number of executive director roles with North West based housing associations, primarily with a customer service focus.

Tahir Idris, Board Member/Chair of the Group Remuneration and Governance Committee

Tahir commenced his career in housing in 1989 as a trainee and has held many senior roles since. He is experienced in transformational change management - both strategic and operational - with a strong focus on communities, tenants and residents. He has worked for a wide range of housing associations, from small, community-led associations to industry-leading providers, such as Places for People and Together Housing.

David Nuttall, Board Member/Customer Experience Committee Member/Development Committee Member

Dave has lived in Wythenshawe for 25 years and currently runs a local charity in the community. He has previously been a school governor, as well as being involved with local community groups. Dave strongly believes in equality for all people across the community.

Sam Wilson, Board Member (Vice Chair)/Audit and Risk Committee Member/Development Committee Member

Sam works for the commercial property company Bruntwood, as Digital Solutions & Technology Director. Since 2000 he has been involved in creating and maintaining systems and processes that help people to look after buildings, and the companies working in those buildings. As well as being born in Wythenshawe Hospital and growing up nearby, Sam has a number of family ties to the area through schools and the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. This has contributed to him wanting to be involved in the community.

Leanne Todd, Board Member

Leanne is a Chartered Tax Advisor with over ten years in professional practice, serving clients in the music, sports, and entertainment industries. She has lived in Wythenshawe for most of her life and is now keen to contribute to the community through her Board role at WCHG.

Elaine Mills, Board Member

Elaine is a Mancunian of African-Caribbean heritage. Her experiences of living in Manchester, working in the voluntary sector and community sector and in public service has provided her with a wealth of experience, knowledge, skills and an understanding of the lives of a range of people from diverse backgrounds and the barriers and obstacles they face in achieving their full potential.

Angela Moran, Board Member

Cllr Angela Moran is a Manchester City Councillor for Northenden ward which includes Benchill and Northern Moor. Her interests include the expansion of affordable housing in Wythenshawe to help tackle the local housing crisis. This is Angela's first non-executive board position and she is keen to use it as a way to give back to the local community. Angela previously worked in economic development and public policy and has a special interest in regeneration and community development.

Michael O'Doherty, Board Member

Michael brings operational, strategic and governance experience from several housing, sustainability, and estates roles. Currently Director for Place at Local Partnerships (a UK Government owned public sector advisory agency), Michael has previously served as Regional Programme Manager for the Cabinet Office One Public Estate Programme and has managed housing services at Tameside, Knowsley and Manchester City Councils. Michael is a Governor at a Greater Manchester Primary School and was previously a NED at Regenda Housing Group where he sat on the Risk and Audit Committee. He has been a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing for over 25 years.

Darren Jones

Darren is a Chartered Surveyor with 35 years’ experience of strategic leadership, management of services, property development and delivery, acquisition and disposals, asset and facilities management.

He has held a number of Board roles in public and private sector organisations including Orbit Developments, his own property development company Reflect, Oldham Council and Nikal Developments.

Darren is a strong believer in place making economic regeneration, ensuring public realm and buildings are well designed sustainable assets, bringing together the physical, cultural and social identities of a place for the communities that use them.

Alice Hemsley-Myers

Alice has a wealth of development and finance experience. Previously Head of Real Estate at Bank of London and the Middle East where she built a large real estate finance business, and then MD for Puma Investments Real Estate where she created a specialist real estate lending function.

Alice has worked across the city with a career spanning the Bank of England, UFJ International, Morgan Stanley International, BLME and Puma.  She has a comprehensive understanding of the lending landscape.

Alice also sits on the Board and Audit and Risk Committee of Honeycomb Group, a Housing Association in the Midlands, and has consultancy clients in the supported living space. 

INDEPENDENT COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Steve Aggett, Audit and Risk Committee Member

Steve is a qualified accountant and is Executive Director of Finance for The Calico Group; a group of companies that covers housing, construction and maintenance, domestic abuse services, and drug and alcohol recovery services, as well as many other enterprises relating to skills, education, care and support. Steve has over 30 years’ experience working in finance across audit, advisory and assurance as well as operational and strategic finance and treasury.

Joanne Peters, Audit and Risk Committee Member

Joanne is a chartered accountant and has over 20 years’ experience working with public sector organisations. She is passionate about supporting improvements across the public sector in the management of business and commercial activity, to maximise available resources, focussing on communities.

Claire Doyle, Development Committee Member

Claire is a director of Perito Property Ltd, a chartered surveying practice which provides services to the housing sector in relation to development and asset management. She has worked in the housing sector for over 25 years, providing support for housing association and local authority clients. Claire’s key areas of expertise are property development, asset management and regeneration.

Laura Johnson, Development Committee Member

Laura is a Chartered Surveyor with over 20 years’ experience working across all property sectors, including extensive retail experience with various FTSE 100 operators including Boots, Sainsbury’s and BP. She is a proven leader and change agent with experience of leading people, strategy and property acquisition, development and asset management at a senior level in large organisations. She currently works for Bromford Housing Association who own and manage 45,000 homes in the Midlands and South West where she is the Director of the Strategic Property Planning and Sustainability function.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE

The role of the Customer Experience Committee is to oversee customer services and monitor performance, as well as ensuring effective customer engagement and involvement.

Michelle Gregg, Board Member and Chair of the Customer Experience Committee

Michelle lives locally and has worked in the housing sector for more than 35 years. She started her career working in Housing Aid for Trafford Council and has held a number of executive director roles with North West based housing associations, primarily with a customer service focus.

Janet Papworth, Vice Chair of the Customer Experience Committee

Janet has lived in Wythenshawe all her life. She has been volunteering for the last 15 years; she worked at Willow Park and was involved in setting up the group of Tenant Inspectors. She joined the WCHG Tenant Committee when it began in 2013, becoming Chair in 2015. As well as being involved with various tenant panels in WCHG, Janet is also part of the Ombudsman Tenants’ Group which works with tenants across the country.

David Nuttall, Board Member and Customer Experience Committee Member

Dave has lived in Wythenshawe for 25 years and currently runs a local charity in the community. He has previously been a school governor, as well as being involved with local community groups. Dave strongly believes in equality for all people across the community.

Antony Monaghan, Customer Experience Committee Member

Anthony has lived in Wythenshawe for 29 years. He is currently employed as a care worker but has worked in various positions including customer service and community roles. He has been volunteering on various WCHG panels for the last eight months.

Branda Stirling, Customer Experience Committee Member

Branda has lived in Wythenshawe since 1999. She started volunteering for Willow Park in 2010 and was involved in establishing the Scrutiny Panel. Branda became part of the WCHG Tenant Committee in 2013 and is part of the Service Review Group.

Emma Bone, Customer Experience Committee Member

Emma has lived in Wythenshawe for 15 years and has been involved in supporting Baguley Tenants’ and Residents’ Association for the past three years. She works for Manchester City Council as Customer Service Operations Manager.

Stacey Garrity, Customer Experience Committee Member

Stacey has lived in Wythenshawe all her life. She works as a voluntary patient representative for children’s charity Immunodeficiency UK.

David Schofield, Customer Experience Committee Member

Born and raised in Wythenshawe, David has worked in various roles across the Civil Service for over 17 years and is currently serving in the capacity of IT Project Manager. Throughout each role he has passionately worked to ensure that a quality service, including support for the vulnerable is provided for all.

David is looking forward to contributing to the CX Committee and working to support WCHG tenants currently living within the local community.

Holly Taylor-Smith, Customer Experience Committee Member

Holly has lived in Wythenshawe since 2013. She has a First class BSc Hons Degree in Psychology and has been involved in various voluntary roles within the local community including 10 years with the Girl Guides and 15 years with On-Ya-Bike Theatre company.

GROUP AUDIT AND RISK COMMITTEE

The Group Audit and Risk Committee has the responsibility of overseeing the Group’s audit functions, including financial statements and annual reports, gaining assurance on governance and assessing and overseeing the risk management function. In addition, this committee is responsible for dealing with information, communication and technology issues.

Tony Bell (Chair)

Sam Wilson

Joanne Peters

Steve Aggett

GROUP REMUNERATION AND GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE

The role of the Group Remuneration and Governance Committee is to review the skills and effectiveness of all Board Members, as well as ensuring the Group’s compliance with the constitutions, policies, regulatory and/or statutory requirements, and principles of good governance, in addition to human resources functions.

Tahir Idris (Chair)

Michelle Gregg

Nick Crofts

DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

The role of the Development Committee is to oversee the development of new-build properties; identifying new business areas and sales activities of the Group.

Darren Jones (Chair)

Sam Wilson

Claire Doyle

David Nuttall

Laura Johnson

BOARD AND COMMITTEE RECRUITMENT 2023/24

During 2023/24, WCHG has recruited for five Board Member vacancies.  All vacancies were advertised and resulted in the appointment of Michael O’Doherty, Elaine Mills and Angela Moran as Board Members in May 2023 and the appointment of Alice Hemsley-Myers as Board Member and Darren Jones as Board Member and Chair of Development Committee in March 2024.

Board diversity, skills and experience

WCHG’s Board and Committee Member Succession Policy states that:

“The Board will seek to reflect the communities it serves within its composition in terms of ethnicity and has a target of 20% ethnic minority representation. It also seeks to have a reasonable gender balance and its target is to be between 60:40 and 50:50.

“The Policy provides that the preferred skills, knowledge and experience of the whole Board should include individual(s) with direct lived experience of (or particular insight into) the communities served by WCHG.”

The Board currently meets the targets for both BAME representation and gender balance. The Board currently has members who have direct lived experience of Wythenshawe communities.

We maintain a register for Board and Committee Member declarations of interest.  This register is publicly available for inspection, by contacting Christine.little@wchg.org.uk or the Company Secretary.

A skills audit is undertaken annually as part of the Board and Committee Member appraisal process. The skills review for 2023/24 confirmed that the board was sufficiently skilled to provide for effective governance of WCHG.