Two housing associations in the North West have agreed to a ‘de-merger’ as one of the small members of a group leaves.
This project has taken 14 months to acheive and will hugly benefit the retention of local investment.
The tenant vote was 97 % with almost a 50% turnout.
Here is the press release from the project which i have been working on since July 2015:
“Symphony Housing Group and Cobalt Housing announced this afternoon that they had agreed conditions for a de-merger.
Symphony, which consists of six housing associations across the North West, agreed to the de-merger after the board of 6,000-home Cobalt concluded that it was in the best interests of its tenants to leave the group.
Peter Mitchell, chair of the Cobalt Housing board, said: “The Cobalt board has worked with Symphony to ensure a positive future for all tenants, and is delighted to have reached an agreement.
“It shows that by working together, the long-term interests of our tenants have been secured. Cobalt is committed to working with our partners to build on our current good performance, to deliver the best possible services to our tenants.”
With 41,000 homes under management, Symphony is currently the largest social housing provider in the North West. As well as Cobalt, it is made up of Contour Homes, Hyndburn Homes, Liverpool Housing Trust, Peak Valley Housing Association and Ribble Valley Homes.
Bronwen Rapley, chief executive of Symphony Housing Group, said: “Symphony and Cobalt will remain neighbours and partners in the future, and will continue to work together to achieve our shared goal of seeing Liverpool and its communities succeed.”
Cobalt Housing was formed 10 years ago with the transfer of properties from Liverpool City Council.”