Annual Report Overview of 2007

Chairman and Chief Executive's Report

One of the things we celebrate at Bournville Village Trust is our rich history. We were founded over a hundred years ago by George Cadbury whose vision, drive and commitment established a successful, balanced, mixed community in a model village which now comprises 1,000 acres, 7,800 homes and 120 acres of open space in suburban Birmingham. That vision lives on and Bournville itself is probably still one of the most popular and successful residential areas in the land, a proposition that was highlighted by a feature on the BBC News website as recently as 2003.

This vision extends to our new areas of major development in Shropshire. Our roots are important to us and give us a solid platform from which to tackle the challenges that lie ahead. Our modern challenge is to build on that platform and to ensure that this organisation, and the people and communities we serve, continue to flourish over the next 100 years and beyond.

We are a unique and diverse organisation. This gives us strength and there are many examples of this:

• The work of our in-house property maintenance and landscaping teams (BPS and BVL) enables us to retain good control over the quality of services - it is no coincidence that our customer satisfaction levels are so high.
• Our commitment to more vulnerable people with special needs ensures that we sustain a mixed and balanced community, as does our commitment to the provision of good quality, affordable homes for rent. Often these are "pepper-potted" across a community so that our neighbourhoods are tenure-blind.This was the case back in 1900 when the Trust was founded by George Cadbury, and remains the case today with major new projects at Lightmoor and Lawley in Telford.
• The work of Bournville Architects is crucially important to us in terms of securing our commitment to top-quality, distinctive design - and it delivers a financial return which is reinvested in our business.
• Our agricultural estates have seen a lot of modernisation work over the last ten years and also deliver a surplus to be reinvested.
• The redevelopment of our Shenley Estate is testament to our wish to ensure that all of Bournville is a special place, recognising that we haven't always got it right in the past.
• Our commitment to tenant participation and a wider resident involvement with our work is designed to engage our local communities and to help them influence the decisions we take.We are a better organisation as a result.

Our communities are changing. There is an influx of newcomers. Age profiles are changing - household types are changing - ethnic profiles are changing - and overall customer expectations are changing. Ours is an organisation which must embrace these changes, but our modern-day mission remains the same - to continue to create and sustain flourishing communities where people choose to live. We believe we are achieving this, but success doesn't come easily. It comes with a great deal of hard work and we are grateful, as ever, for the support we receive from our Trustees and other committee members, staff, partner organisations, and not least those residents who so willingly participate in our work.

It is only right and proper that we celebrate our rich history, but we are a forward-looking organisation which continues to play an important part in responding to the need for good quality, affordable homes in successful, flourishing communities.There is plenty of evidence in this Annual Report to demonstrate we are achieving that and we hope you enjoy reading it.