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Your feedback on our proposed merger

The Board of Presentation wrote to all residents in December asking for your thoughts about the proposal to fully integrated Presentation into Notting Hill. The formal statutory consultation has now ended.

Responses

You gave us 38 responses via email, phone calls and letters, of which 82% were positive about the proposal. The positive responses are mostly about concerns that Presentation has not been able to deliver its Decent Homes and major works programmes and a view that under Notting Hill the work would be carried out.

The remaining 18% of responses do not agree with or have concerns about the proposals. The reasons have mainly been based on fears of being absorbed into a large organisation where the ‘small’ issues may be forgotten; or with specific issues around Notting Hill resident satisfaction levels.

Altogether Better

On the issue of resident satisfaction, Notting Hill has recently launched a major programme to transform the way it delivers its services to residents. It is called ‘Altogether Better’ and was featured in December’s edition of Voice. Download a copy of the article - Altogether Better (PDF 46 KB).

Feedback so far has been very positive. Satisfaction levels of residents in the Altogether Better programme are up by 30%. We will keep you informed of progress of Altogether Better at our future meetings.

Meetings

As well as feedback by phone and in writing, resident representatives from your consultative forums came to meetings to discuss integrating Presentation with Notting Hill. The representatives were generally positive about the proposals, but wanted to make sure Notting Hill focused on delivery of services and improvement plans. They also conveyed a message that residents were disappointed that past promises made by Presentation had not been fulfilled.

Timeframes

Concerns around Presentation’s ability to deliver the Decent Homes and major works programmes have been raised throughout the consultation. If the Presentation Board and shareholders do decide that integrating completely with Notting Hill is the best course of action, we hope that the merger would be completed by June 2010 and improvements can be made straight away. Notting Hill has the financial stability to be able to implement work required to bring all of our properties up to the Decent Homes Standard within approximately 12 months from completion of a full integration.

All the feedback from the consultation will be presented to the Board of Presentation in early February 2010. The feedback will assist it to make its final decision as to whether to recommend to shareholders that integration is the best solution. We imagine this decision will be made in late March 2010.

Notting Hill and Presentation explore benefits of a full merger

The Notting Hill and Presentation Boards have decided to explore the benefits of merging Presentation completely with Notting Hill Housing Trust.

In June 2009, Presentation joined Notting Hill Housing Group as a subsidiary. Presentation is now considering merging completely with the Trust. Notting Hill Housing Trust would own all of Presentation’s properties, all tenancies would transfer and Notting Hill would become your landlord.

Why are we considering this option?

Presentation is not as financially strong as Notting Hill Housing Trust. If we merge completely with Notting Hill Housing we can take advantage of its financial strength and lower interest rates and make substantial financial savings.

We think that merging Presentation completely into Notting Hill might be the safest and best way to secure long-term security for you our residents and make sure that our services to you remain affordable and reliable.

We would like to know what you think about this option and, because your landlord would change, it is essential that we consult you about it.

We are only exploring this option at the moment and we need your views to help us to make the best decision. The Board of Presentation will consider all views submitted and we will discuss them with Presentation’s shareholders before making a decision.

Please tell us your thoughts or opinions about this proposal in any of the following ways
• By email to Catherine.Hardy-Smith@presentation-sia.org.uk
• By phoning Catherine Hardy-Smith on 0207 091 9372.
• By post to Catherine Hardy-Smith, Presentation, 47-49 Durham Street London. SE11 5JA.
• By coming to a meeting at Presentation's Durham Street office to discuss the proposals at 6pm, 15th December 2009.

You can also call Catherine on the number above if you require more information about the factors that lead the Board to investigate this option.

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