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The Audit Commission has upgraded Broadland Housing Association’s performance rating by awarding it double star status and recording that it is providing a “good service that has promising prospects for improvement”.

The result is an important milestone for the organisation which becomes the first housing association in Norfolk and north Suffolk to achieve two stars under the Commission’s demanding criteria and is a particularly significant achievement considering Broadland had been placed in “supervision” for six months by the Government just four and a half years ago.

Broadland Housing volunteered for the pilot “short notice” inspection which gave staff just five days notice of the inspectors’ arrival.

The review, which took place in February and lasted three days, looked at the way the association manages income collection; makes provision for tenants with diverse needs; manages services; deals with anti social behaviour and the effectiveness with which it allocates and lets its affordable homes in its operating area.

The inspection confirmed that in key areas – tenant satisfaction, rent collection and the speed of re letting properties - Broadland Housing’s performance is in the top 25% of all UK housing associations.

The inspection team also highlighted the important contribution of initiatives such as Broadland’s mobile office which provides a range of different services to tenants in isolated rural communities; its proactive approach to addressing the needs of gypsies and travellers in Norfolk, its work to reduce anti social behaviour – particularly its work with residents of Shipfield in Norwich who won a Government Respect Award and EDP community award; and its significant investment in staff training, which has resulted in a recent Investors In People Award.

The report also provided practical recommendations for improvement. These covered areas such as performance management and making provisions for further involving residents. In response to this, Broadland’s management team has supplied the Audit Commission with actions to address these.

Speaking about the inspection, Caroline Pickering, Chair of Broadland Housing Association said: “We are delighted that the Audit Commission has recognised the continued progress made by Broadland Housing since its last inspection in 2005.

"This result is down to teamwork and has involved the Board, staff and all those tenants who participate in our activities. We are determined to carry on working together in the strong belief that we can continue to make improvements to our services, the homes we provide for our customers and the communities and neighbourhoods we work within.”

Michael Newey, Chief Executive of Broadland Housing added:
“When the Audit Commission announced in the summer of 2007 that they were thinking of introducing short notice inspections, we were really keen to be involved as it was a great opportunity to benchmark our progress since our last inspection in 2005.

"Although this is not a full inspection, it has been very important as it has demonstrated the effectiveness of the strategic systems and procedures we have implemented over the last four years, plus the importance of our day to day approach to delivering services to people in housing need in our area.”

Moll Robb, tenant board member said: ”As one of Broadland Housing Association’s tenants I have personal experience of the improvements that have been made by Broadland Housing in recent years.

"There are good systems to allow residents to have a say in how their communities are developed and I know that many more initiatives are planned that will make a real difference to our homes and neighbourhoods.”