Our Board and Governance
Wythenshawe Community Housing Group Limited is a charitable community benefit society and a not-for-profit provider of social housing. We are registered with the Regulator of Social Housing as a social landlord.
We have 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, Development and Homes Committee.
The Board meets six times a year. Each committee meets between four and six times a year.
Nick Crofts, Chair of the Board, People Culture & Governance Committee, Garden City Trading, Garden City Design and Build 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.
Michelle Gregg, Board Member (Vice Chair), Chair of the Customer Experience Committee, People, Culture 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.
Sam Wilson , Board Member (Vice Chair), Development and Homes Committee, Audit and Risk Committee and Garden City Trading Member
Sam works for the commercial property company Bruntwood, as Digital Solutions and Technology Director. Since 2000 he has been involved in creating and maintaining systems and processes that help people 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.
Tony Bell, Board Member, Chair of Audit and 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 workspace and business support to 200 small and medium-sized enterprises.
Tahir Idris, Board Member, Chair of People, Culture and Governance Committee
Tahir began 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.
Darren Jones, Board Member, Chair of Development and Homes Committee, Garden City Trading, Garden City Design and Build Member
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 recently started a new role as Development Director at Cityheart, a specialist regeneration developer.
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.
David Nuttall, Board Member, Customer Experience Committee Member and Development and Homes 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.
Leanne Todd, Board Member, Customer Experience Committee 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 with us.
Elaine Mills, Board Member, People, Culture and Governance Committee Member
Elaine is a Mancunian of African-Caribbean heritage. Her experiences of living in Manchester, working in the voluntary and community sectors, 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, Development and Homes Committee Member
Angela 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, Development and Homes Committee 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.
Alice Hemsley-Myers, Board Member, Audit and Risk Committee and Development and Homes Committee Member
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, 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 and Homes Committee Member
Claire is a director of Perito Property Limited, 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 and Homes 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 Director of the Strategic Property Planning and Sustainability.
Amy Causley, People Culture and Governance Committee Member
Amy started her career as an Equalities Officer in social housing. She then grew her human resources (HR) career outside of the sector before returning in 2019 as Director of People for a Housing Association in the North West, leading on all elements of HR and organisational development. Amy is Chartered Member of the CIPD, passionate about excellent colleague experience and continues her commitment to EDI in her role as EDI lead for her organisation.
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 (Chair)
Janet Papworth (Vice Chair)
Janet has lived in Wythenshawe all her life and has been volunteering for the last 15 years. She worked at Willow Park Housing Trust and was involved in setting up the group of Tenant Inspectors. She joined our Tenant Committee when it began in 2013, becoming Chair in 2015. As well as being involved with several of our tenant groups, Janet is also part of the Ombudsman Tenants’ Group which works with tenants across the country.
David Nuttall
Branda Stirling
Branda has lived in Wythenshawe since 1999. She started volunteering for Willow Park in 2010 and was involved in establishing the Scrutiny Group. Branda became part of our Tenant Committee in 2013 and is now part of the Service Review Group.
Stacey Garrity
Stacey has lived in Wythenshawe all her life. She works as a voluntary patient representative for children’s charity Immunodeficiency UK.
Holly Smith
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.
Andy Rawlins
Andy has lived in Wythenshawe for 20 years. In that time, he's been involved with a number of local community groups and organisations, and has worked for several charities supporting children and families, people affected by addiction and people looking for work. Andy enjoys travelling, cooking and eating, walking his dog, running, cycling and playing football. He's been a leaseholder with us for three years, and is passionate about representing the voices and interests of leaseholders on the Customer Experience Committee.
Mo Abase
For the past ten years, Mo has called Manchester home, and last year settled in Wythenshawe, becoming one of our leaseholders. Mo's first-hand experience of the Wythenshawe community is that its warmth and vibrancy is brought to life by the amazing people who make it so welcoming. After graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University, he embraced the chance to give back by volunteering with various organisations, including our Community Tool Hire. He's passionate about learning, collaborating, and making a positive impact on people's lives. As a coffee enthusiast, when he's not working, volunteering, or exploring new ideas, you’ll find him travelling, reading, or checking out new coffee shops.
AUDIT AND RISK COMMITTEE
The 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
Alice Hemsley-Myers
PEOPLE, CULTURE AND GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE
The role of the People, Culture 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
Elaine Mills
Amy Causley
DEVELOPMENT AND HOMES COMMITTEE
The role of the Development and Homes 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
Angela Moran
Michael O’Doherty
Alice Hemsley-Myers
BOARD AND COMMITTEE RECRUITMENT 2024-25
During 2023/24, we recruited for Committee Member vacancies. All vacancies were advertised and resulted in the appointment of Andy Rawlins and Mo Abase as Committee Members in August 2024.
A skills audit is undertaken annually as part of the Board and Committee Member appraisal process. The skills review for 2024-25 confirmed that the board was sufficiently skilled to provide for effective governance of the Group.