Priti Patel MP with Paul Edwards, CEO of CHP charitable housing association.
Priti meets new housing chief
Witham’s Parliamentarian, Priti Patel MP, has had her first meeting with Paul Edwards, the new CEO of CHP, the Chelmsford based charitable housing association. Mr Edwards took over last year and sought a meeting with the MP to introduce himself and to update her on CHP’s numerous property interests in the Witham constituency.
During their meeting on Friday 10th February in Witham, Priti raised a number of issues faced by her constituents on housing issues, including access to social housing, the difficulties many constituents face in securing social housing and basic problems about the quality and maintenance of housing by social providers.
CHP has approximately 285 properties across the Witham constituency, which includes social rent, intermediate rent, affordable rent and shared ownership homes. A further 103 CHP properties are currently under construction in the constituency.
Commenting after the meeting, Priti said: “A number of issues of concern relating to social housing provision in my constituency were covered in today’s meeting. It was useful to meet Paul and discuss these key issues. Social housing providers have important statutory duties to meet when it comes to housing constituents and it is vital that standards are met. I look forward to working with Paul and his team at CHP to improve all aspects of social housing provision and affordability.”
Paul Edwards, CEO of CHP said: “It was a pleasure to meet Priti and to talk her through the work we are doing in Witham. Having productive working relationships and good communications with key local stakeholders is a vital part of our work, that we always prioritise. Our local MPs can help ensure that obstacles to the provision of new social housing are resolved, helping us house more of their constituents in warm, safe and affordable homes. We will certainly be keeping in touch with Priti in the coming months and we look forward to working with her.”