Rochdale council wants RBH to change its name following the death of Awaab Ishak so people don’t confuse the two. Council leader Neil Emmott made the suggestion as elected members debated a motion urging the shamed housing provider's current board to resign.
The motion, moved by housing chief Coun Danny Meredith, also called for council representation on the RBH board as part of a ‘rolling overhaul’ of its governance and new interim chief executive Yvonne Arrowsmith to meet with council bosses ‘as a matter of urgency’ once in post. And Coun Emmott found favour with his proposal that it should include a demand for RBH to change its name due so people do not confuse it with the local authority.
“I would like to change the name, frankly, because Rochdale Boroughwide Housing is too close a name to Rochdale Borough Council,” he told the meeting. “And a lot of the media, over the Awaab Ishak issue, have actually thought it was the council that had done it - when, in fact, it’s nothing to do with us. We haven’t had that housing stock for 10 and a half years now.”
READ MORE : Rochdale Boroughwide Housing downgraded by regulator after failing to act for TWO YEARS after Awaab Ishak's death
