Executive Summary

The Elthorne First Housing Co-operative is responsible for managing 139 properties on the Elthorne estate in Islington. It is the largest of the 4 co-ops which manage properties on the Elthorne estate.  Many tenants have exercised their Right to Buy and half of the properties managed by Elthorne Co-op are privately owned.  Some of these are let to private tenants.

Registered in 1979 as a co-operative, Elthorne First is a small organisation, managed by a Management Committee, all of whom are all volunteers, and has a very small staff team.  It operates in a complex, challenging environment.

The Co-op operates under a Managing Agreement with the overall landlord, Islington Council.  Responsibilities for managing the dwellings are split between the Co-op and the LBI, in rather complicated ways. Additionally, its responsibilities towards the tenants of the social housing differs from those towards private owners. 

Elthorne First receives a payment from LBI for managing the housing.  The amount is allocated annually, and the co-op may not receive notification of the amount, which can vary for reasons internal to the Council, until late in the previous financial year, impacting on financial planning and management. 

Responding effectively to this issue has been built into the Co-op’s financial planning process: it is this awareness of the importance of good planning, based on clear objectives, shared values and an over-arching vision that has led the co-op to develop this, our first full written business plan. 

The plan sets out our choice of strategic objectives for the coming period, explaining how these choices have been informed by a thorough examination of the Co-ops current and future position.  It identifies the outcomes (results) we aim to achieve, and describes the specific activities and projects that will enable us to achieve these objectives and deliver these outcomes.  The plan reports on finance and budgets, and describes the co-ops financial procedures and planning processes.  It also explains how we will measure and judge our performance, and describes the ways in which the sort of risks that an organisation such as our Co-op might encounter can be reduced or mitigated.   

We believe in the importance of good communications.  The plan sets out our approach and policies towards communicating, consulting and involving the residents of the Co-op, and also towards communicating and working with key partners & stakeholders. 

We see this business plan as a ‘road map’ that will assist the Co-op to achieve its objectives and which will support the management committee and staff to run the Co-op efficiently and effectively.  It has an important role to play in the process of providing information to residents, to partner organisations and other stakeholders.

This plan helps to provide a way of navigating through a landscape which, though complex, changeable and challenging, is also a rewarding one in offering opportunities to continue to deliver high quality services to all our residents – most of whom enjoy and value living on the Elthorne Estate.  Our first full plan is a living document which will be added to and developed over the months and years ahead.

For further information click on the Business Plan