Group Operations Committee

About our Group Operations Committee

Members of our Group Operations Committee make sure that our frontline services are working to provide the best possible services for our tenants and other customers in our communities.

At any one time, the Committee is made up of around seven people, with at least half of members being tenants, former tenants, or other customers of our services.

The Committee has two main functions:

To check that we’re providing people with quality affordable homes and effective support services, through our role as a landlord and a Community Benefit Society.
To understand how our services impact on local neighbourhoods and the communities we serve.

Former Operations Committee member Gill Robinson explains how it works (in less than 90 seconds):

Download our Group Operations Committee terms of reference:

You can download our Group Operations Committee's terms of reference document here: Group Operations Committee Terms of reference[pdf] 116KB

Sharon Hanbury (Chair)

Sharon Hanbury, Operations Committee member

Sharon brings many years’ experience across a wide range of housing and related areas within Local Authorities and Combined Authorities. This includes 15 years at Head of Service level in two Greater Manchester LAs with responsibility for Strategic Housing, Private Sector Housing, Housing-led Regeneration, Housing Growth and a range of other services and areas. Sharon’s experience at CAs (both Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region) – involving several areas such as Private Sector Housing, Housing Growth and Housing Retrofit - has added further experience as well as different perspectives. Strong partnerships and collaboration with Housing Providers has featured highly in her career and is a considerable strength.

Sharon is highly passionate and committed to making a difference to places and the lives of residents and communities; with her Board and Committee roles presenting significant opportunity in these respects.

Sharon joined Bolton at Home's Board, together with the Group Audit and Risk Committee, Group Development Committee and Operations Committee in April 2022.

Mike Corfield (Vice Chair)

Mike Corfield, Operations Committee member

Mike, who joined Arcon's Board in 2018, has over 25 years experience in social housing sector, working for both local authorities and housing associations. Mike has been responsible to a wide range of frontline customer services including repairs, housing management, customer involvement, income collection, welfare benefits and customer contact centres. Mike is passionate about ensuring services deliver outstanding value for customers and is determined that housing providers do not lose their sense of social purpose.

Mike joined the Group Governance Committee in June 2019, and was appointed to Bolton at Home's Board in January 2020.

Hamza Al-Qasmi

Hamza is a Compliance Advisor at the University of Manchester, and supports the wider community as a school governor and through charity work. He wants us to deliver outstanding services for customers that also positively impact local communities.

Hamza will contribute to these outcomes by monitoring our performance, asking questions and challenging us as appropriate

Melanie Everest

Melanie Everest, Operations Committee member

Melanie has been a shared owner for more than 10 years and has over 20 years’ experience of frontline service delivery in local government. Melanie is passionate about helping people and making a positive contribution to local communities. In this role, Melanie will combine her professional and lived experience to make a real difference to others.

Nichola Kenny

Nichola Kenny, Operations Committee member

Nichola currently works for OLC Europe, a private Higher Education College in Bolton. Nichola has a keen interest in helping and supporting the local community to improve the local and wider area within which she lives and helping individuals to realize and reach their potential. Nichola has lived in Bolton for over 15 years and has previously been a governor within a local primary school.

Teresa Larkin-Milne

Teresa Larkin-Milne, Operations Committee member

Teresa has been a tenant for over 30 years and, as a volunteer, has mentored teenagers to help them with issues.

After developing disabilities and being restricted to her home throughout the pandemic, Teresa was motivated to get back out into society, meet new people, take-up fresh opportunities and support others.

Teresa will offer her experience and perspective to benefit other tenants.

Kerensa Brown

Kerensa Brown, Operations Committee member

Kerensa has been a tenant since July 2023. She worked within our communities as a Peer Navigator between May 2022 to November 2023.

During this time she supported many tenants with support and guidance. She also set up and supported a number of community groups.

Kerensa is passionate about the customer's voice being heard and will use her knowledge and experience as a tenant and peer navigator to benefit other tenants.

Bashir Aideed

Image to follow

Bashir has been a Bolton at Home tenant for over ten years. He has been involved with Bolton at Home on many partnership projects all over Bolton in his current job working at Bolton Solidarity Community Association a charity that works with the new and emerging communities of Bolton) .

He strongly believes that for a Housing Association to be effective in its decision making there needs to be a strong customer voice within it. He wants to add value to the committee with his skills in governance and community development.

He also has reach into diverse communities in Bolton and has many years’ experience and training in Equality Diversity Inclusion. He wants to add to Bolton at Home’s commitment to be an inclusive organisation to all.

His trustee experience with Bolton Wanderers In The Community and Bolton Together has given him good insight of the role of a trustee and how to be supportive yet able to offer challenge with regards to service provision and looking at the wider picture.

He is passionate about ensuring that Bolton at Home is delivering their best service to its tenants and is enthusiastic to get involved.

Sara Fearns

Sara has been involved with Bolton at Home for many years as a tenant, volunteer, advisor and previous employee. As a volunteer, she has been actively involved with a variety of environmental projects within her community.

As a peer navigator for Bolton at Home she was instrumental in setting up and managing a Men in Sheds community which has had a positive impact on all those involved.

Sara was a previous member of Bolton at Home’s Scrutiny Panel. During this time she represented Bolton at Home and social housing tenants at TPAS and the See the Tenants Campaign which has led to the newly adopted Tenants Charter. She also represented Bolton at Home’s Scrutiny Panel at NCRC / Housing plus academy and The LSE Housing and communities residential training which covered building skills and overcoming stigma and how tenants can make a difference.

Whilst a member of the Scrutiny Panel, Sara was involved in a number of service reviews which looked at how services could be improved for the benefit of tenants/customers. These have resulted in positive changes being made in a number of service areas.

Sara would like to use her experience and knowledge to advocate further for social housing and tenant representation.