Our Board
Meet the Board
Rolf Levesley | Senior Independent Director | Our Board
Trent & Dove is run by a Board of Management made up of 10 members, including Trent & Dove customers. The board drives our strategy ensuring we make the best business decisions.
The regulator monitors how well we do this; you’ll find our latest reports here Trent & Dove Housing Limited - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Trent & Dove also has an Executive Team who are responsible for the day-to-day running of the organisation.
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Rolf Levesley | Senior Independent Director
Why is social housing so important?
I have a strong social view that we’re failing as a country. We're not adequately housing enough people. The Government made a massive mistake when it sold off its council houses in the 1980s. Some people never manage to buy their own homes, and everybody should have a safe place to live.
What sets Trent & Dove apart from other housing organisations?
The strength of the community work is very much part of our brand such as the community-based programmes, the Warm Spaces cafes, and the Coffee Connect van. Trent & Dove does it well. We have also quickly embraced the customer voice, putting a lot of resources into building meaningful customer relations because if we have proper engagement with our customers, we get information from them that we need to shape our services and make them more effective.
What’s the most crucial part of the Board?
The most important part is ensuring that Trent & Dove remains properly governed and viable. It ensures that the way Trent & Dove is run, both financially and non-financial, is appropriate, recognises challenges, and takes the necessary action to mitigate risks.
What is your proudest achievement on the Board or the Customer Committee?
Being involved in getting the Customer Committee going. I'm a bit of a voice on the Committee for maintaining our community programme spend. It is discretionary spend, so we have to repair leaky taps and fix roofs, but we don’t have to do any of the community programmes unless we want to, and we do that. I'm passionate that, with the financial and other constraints we have, we maintain that.
We also have a very good development programme. It is very valuable to provide people with somewhere to live.
What are your priorities within Trent & Dove?
Maintain the development programme in accordance with our strategy in terms of numbers and locations, control the rents as there is always a balance with rents as not everyone can pay, and continue the community programme.
Do you have a particular philosophy you work by?
‘ We should treat other people as you wish them to treat you’.
It is about the glue which makes it all work. Organisations that have the good fortune to influence the way society is structured should do something for the people who are falling out the bottom end. Trent & Dove does this with passion and ensures our customers and colleagues are well cared for.