from Pam Reynolds
Following the peaks and troughs of the pandemic, 2021/2022 was the year we all started to get back on our feet again with a renewed sense of optimism and energy. English Rural rose to the challenges created in the wake of the pandemic and continued to provide an excellent service for our residents and kept the organisation on track, achieving the highest gradings of V1/G1 from the Regulator of Social Housing - an achievement we are all enormously proud of.
The world continues to remain an unpredictable and challenging place, but despite this, English Rural was able to celebrate a great number of successes throughout the year: >> The Resident’s Services team have continued to focus on customer service improvements and have co-produced, with residents, seven Customer Charter Commitments together with a separately published Residents' Annual Report.
>> An increased focus on enhancing resident engagement and resident voice, building on our early-adopter role of the National Housing Federation's 'Together with Tenants' initiative. Additionally, we now have two residents represented at Board level.
>> We have continued to support residents to navigate financially testing times, with a hardship fund to aid those most in need.
>> We are pleased to report an increase in overall housing stock through our development build programme in rural communities by completing new developments at Staple and Halstead (Kent) and Ashurstwood (Mid-Sussex), with 21 further schemes in the development pipeline, reflecting our clear ambition for growth.
>> The appointment of a new Development Director has created an opportunity to refresh the leadership of the development team as we focus on achieving future growth ambitions and strengthen our already solid relationships with our partners, including Homes England.
>> Our influencing role continues to gain momentum with English Rural currently involved in three separate impactful research projects due to be completed within 2022/23.
>> Our communications strategy has been completely refreshed to align with the revised Business Strategy. This includes a greater digital focus, including a transformative IT Strategy, revised messaging and proactively working to add value from our experiences to a range of wider rural and affordable housing sector groups.
>> English Rural’s Chief Executive maintains a high-profile national advocacy role within both the housing and rural sectors and our Patron, HRH The Princess Royal, has continued to support us and raise awareness of rural housing issues throughout the year.
>> We continue to recognise and acknowledge the hard work carried out by our staff and this is reflected in a review of pay and reward in the coming months. Furthermore, we have embarked upon awareness and training on staff wellbeing and mental health in addition to further progress being made with our equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) aims.
Residents in the village of Dunsfold, Surrey
Chair, English Rural
