Bolton at Home's Jon Lord steps down to be replaced by Noel Sharpe

Jon Lord has been chief executive of Bolton at Home, which maintains around 18,000 houses across the borough for 13 years.

He has guided the organisation through some of the most challenging years in its history but now his many years of service are ending and Mr Lord, who has worked in the housing sector since 1987, says he looks back with pride.

He said: “It’s been an unexpected privilege to lead Bolton at Home. Particularly given it has always been my hometown.

“The last 13 years as chief executive have been full of challenges, including the pandemic, which led to a slowdown in repairs carried out.

“Now we are recovering that situation it feels the right time to hand over to a new chief executive.”

Bolton at Home is the borough's biggest housing provider

Mr Lord was awarded an OBE for services to social housing in 2007 and before leading Bolton at Home had served as chair of the Greater Manchester Housing Providers partnership.

He will soon be handing over the reigns to his deputy since 2018, Noel Sharpe.

Mr Lord said: “I can’t think of anyone better than Noel to take the organisation forward into future challenges and meet the changing customer demand we are seeing.”

The incoming chief executive, who will officially start in the role next January, is already well known in the borough as a board member of Bolton Community Homes, a Trustee of Bolton Lads and Girls Club and for her work with the Integrated Care Partnership.

Ms Sharpe said: “I’m very much looking forward to building on the great work done by Jon and our colleagues across the group to serve our customers and make our communities stronger.

“I am delighted to have been given this opportunity.

“We have a clear business plan and my priority is to ensure we deliver on this.

“We’ll continue working hard to give more people the opportunity to live in a quality and affordable home, and provide a range of services to help people live prosperous and fulfilling lives.”