The board of a Borehamwood housing association which has been rocked to its foundations by a management dispute this week denied it could lose control of the organisation.

For the past two weeks Ridgehill Housing Association's board of management has been trying to resolve a breakdown in communications between its two most senior executives.

The board's chairman has been involved in discussions with the Housing Corporation, the national regulatory body, which has the power to seize control of housing associations.

But board members yesterday said they were hopeful that the dispute, which involves chief executive Roger Watson and director of housing Lily Smith, could be settled.

Councillor Derrick Gunasekera, who is on the board, said: "There is a management culture breakdown it is not a straight forward matter, but we have got the problem well in hand."

The board, which is made up of volunteers, has had three special meetings so far to discuss the issue, and has employed an expert consultant to outline its options.

On Tuesday the board agreed that its members would form three panels, which will investigate the concerns raised by the chief executive and the director of housing.

Chairman David Bearfield said: "I hope we are going to resolve this within the next 20 days."

The Housing Corporation said it was talking to Ridgehill about the situation, and stressed that it only considered taking enforcement action in extreme circumstances.

Board members were told by the consultant, earlier this month, that one possible solution to the management problem could be a merger with another housing association.

However, Mr Bearfield said the board was unanimously opposed to the idea, because it wanted to ensure that the interests of Ridgehill's tenants were represented by local people.

Concerns have also been raised by board members about payments, totalling around £2.5million, which were made to employees who left Ridgehill within the past five years.

Mr Gunasekera said that, although the payments were approved using the correct procedure, the matter was being looked into by the board.

Ridgehill, which owns around 5,000 homes and is the major supplier of social housing in Hertsmere, is managed by a board of 15 volunteers, including tenants and local councillors.

The association's day to day operations are carried out by a paid management team, made up of a chief executive, a director of housing, a human resources manager and a head of finance.

October 18, 2001 10:38

MARK FOY