One star homes body gets new boss

The new temporary boss of Nottingham City Homes has said the organisation faces major challenges to secure millions of pounds of funding.

David Hucker has been brought in after the organisation was heavily criticised by the Audit Commission for a backlog of repairs and alleged cronyism.

Its one-star rating has put more than £160m of extra funding in doubt.

Mr Hucker, who has worked with troubled housing departments before, said the department must serve all its tenants.

Our job is to connect with all these people and make sure each and every one gets a good service David Hucker

Nottingham City Homes is the semi-independent body which manages the city's 32,000 council houses

In March, the Audit Commission criticised it for a backlog of maintenance work, cronyism and illegally entering people's homes.

A fortnight later, the chief executive, Lynn Pennington, was signed off sick.

Mr Hucker said people should be at the centre of what the organisation does.

"The Audit Commission report is quite critical of the company's approach to diversity," he said.

"Often diversity is seen solely in terms of race, when actually it includes people who are disadvantaged for physical or many other reasons.

"Our job is to connect with all these people and make sure each and every one gets a good service."