A long-serving Liverpool councillor has become the new chairman on the Plus Dane Group housing association.
Lib/Dem council member Richard Kemp, 58, immediately announced ambitious plans for Plus Dane to do even more in the challenging economic climate.
Plus Dane is responsible for more than 15,000 homes in Merseyside and Cheshire and has a turnover of more than £50million.
Cllr Kemp has nearly 30 years of experience in politics and is a senior figure on the Liberal Democrat group on Liverpool City Council. He is also currently deputy chairman of the Local Government Association.
He was appointed after the previous Plus Dane chairman, South Manchester Coroner John Pollard, stood down from the post.
The appointment follows a robust recruitment process in which a panel of tenants played a significant role in the interview stage.
Cllr Kemp, who had been deputy chairman for the past two years, said his immediate aim will be to steer growth in housing development and the services the group offers.
Said Cllr Kemp: "Plus Dane is a marvellous organisation and I’m incredibly proud to be associated with it.
"But I want us to do even better and work out ways of extending what the group can do for the people it serves, we want to build on our Neighbourhood investor model to do more in existing neighbourhoods and if required, other places.
"We want to be even easier to work with and we are ready to help existing and new partners who share our service mission, particularly local authorities in these challenging times.
"The financial challenges are difficult for everyone, but I really believe we can get through these times and minimise the hurt for the people we serve if take the opportunity to strengthen partnership working."
Cllr Kemp is regarded as an influential figure in regional and national politics and his views are regularly reported in the media.
Bringing his expertise to bear at Plus Dane he is committed to working with politicians of all parties as the organisation seeks to influence policy and encourage investment.
He added: "There is no point in having connections if you are not going to use them but I want now to spend more time meeting tenants.
"The stories I learn there will enable me to go down to Westminster and push for change more effectively.
"There’s a tremendous opportunity for an organisation like Plus Dane because we have the answers that local and central government are looking for. We know how to join things together and how to work very differently from other organisations.
"While other associations may retreat into their bunkers, I see this as a time of opportunity."
Richard, who is married to fellow councillor Erica Kemp, has three grown-up children.
He recently became a grandfather and enjoys spending time with his family, adding to his stamp collection and working as a "labourer on his wife’s allotment".
Outgoing chairman John Pollard, who oversaw the merger of the Plus Group and Dane Housing in 2008 and was been involved at a senior level with Dane for more than a dozen years, wished his replacement well and paid tribute to the “amazing” staff who have helped make Plus Dane a leading light among housing associations
"I will miss Plus Dane enormously but with the increasing complexity of my work as a Coroner it was time for me to step aside as the group prepares to take its next step forward,” said Mr Pollard.
"It is so important for the good of society that people have decent homes to live in and I hope people feel, as I do, that there have been vast improvements due to the work of Dane and now Plus Dane.
"Everything we have achieved has been due to the excellent workforce who always go the extra mile, not for money or self aggrandisement but, because they really care about the people."
Plus Dane’s new deputy chairman is Nigel Hodges, a senior member of the management team at pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.
Post a comment