Introduction
We’re pleased to introduce our new plan to 2030. This follows ‘Building a Better Tomorrow’, our previous plan which ran from 2019 to 2024.
We’re proud of what we achieved during that time. We have delivered significant progress in how we deliver services to residents, more than doubled the amount we invest in homes and nearly doubled the number of new affordable homes we deliver each year - with our first regeneration scheme at John Barker Place in Hitchin well underway. This is all underpinned by being a well-run business. During the period, group turnover increased from £64m in 2019/20 to over £83m in 2023/24, and our operating surplus remained consistently above £20m.
We have achieved this against a backdrop of immense global instability, a pandemic and significant financial pressures. We start the period of this new plan seeing the ongoing impact of these challenges and the inevitable trade-offs we need to make. A general election will be required within the first year of this new plan and significant regulatory change is now being implemented across the sector.
We are proud of working hard and caring for residents. It takes a great team of people to do this. Our colleagues, our partners, our stakeholders all work together well with the needs of residents at the core of everything we do. Our focus during recent years has been on establishing the strength of our culture at Settle; to make sure that this translates into an engaged colleague base, committed to delivering the best possible outcomes with partners, for residents.
Our plan to 2030 has been developed through extensive engagement with residents, colleagues and partners, and we are grateful for all of the feedback we have received. This has included:
- Surveys and wider feedback, along with data from over a year of early surveys against the Tenant Satisfaction Measures
- Our Voice of the Resident panel
- Our Big Door Knock, now in its sixth year
- Feedback through complaints
- And the neighbourhood plans we have in place for our three largest neighbourhoods, which have been co-created with residents and provide valuable guidance for the breadth of our work.
We have a clear mission to 2030, refreshed purpose, priorities and values. Over the coming years, our work will be focused on delivering ongoing investment in homes, quality, safety and thermal comfort for residents.
We will continue to play our part to deliver new affordable homes to meet long-term housing need. Against a challenging external environment, we will sometimes have to make difficult decisions, focusing our efforts on where they can have the biggest impact. These decisions will be underpinned by data, driven by what we’re hearing from and working with residents.
Throughout all that we do we will remain relentlessly resident focused. Residents are the reason we exist. We believe that what makes us different at Settle is that we put residents first. We know that everyone is different, so we will ensure that we provide a service that is as individual as each resident.
We look forward to working together, with partners and residents, to delivering the purpose stated in this plan: to give residents a firm foundation on which to build their lives, and our vision by 2030 of a safe, comfortable and affordable home for every household.
"We are proud of working hard and caring for residents. It takes a great team of people to do this. Our colleagues, our partners, our stakeholders all work together well with the needs of residents at the core of everything we do."