The borough’s biggest housing provider has announced a major merger with another of the region’s leading groups.

Bolton at Home already manages more than 18,000 homes with tens of thousands of tenants and their families.

Now, chief executive Noel Sharpe has announced that the group is to become a single association with Swinton based Arcon Housing, which has already been a subsidiary of the group for the last few years.

Ms Sharpe said: “Bolton at Home and Arcon have worked closely over the last four years and by bringing both organisations together, we feel we could do even more to meet our customers’ needs.

The Bolton News: Bolton at Home chief executive Noel SharpeBolton at Home chief executive Noel Sharpe (Image: Newsquest)

“Things have changed a lot since Arcon first joined the group in 2019.

“There are significant economic and cost of living challenges facing our communities and businesses, and we need to make sure we can keep doing our best for the people we serve.

“Bringing Bolton at Home and Arcon together as one would provide us with a stronger base for the future.”

Both organisations will hope that the move will help them tackle ongoing challenges including rising rents and energy prices all across the country and the mounting cost of living crisis, which has hit social housing tenants particularly hard.

Arcon, which is headquartered in Trafford Park, owns and manages around 1,300 homes across the region.

It first joined the Bolton at Home group in April 2019 as a subsidiary company and has worked closely with it ever since.

But the merger plan will see them work together more closely still, with Ms Sharpe set to remain as chief executive of the combined organisation.

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The move marks one of the first major steps taken by the new chief executive since she replaced the outgoing Jon Lord.

Mr Lord had been chief executive of Bolton at Home for 13 years before stepping down in January, while Ms Sharpe has been part of the group’s senior management team since joining in 2015.

The proposal for Bolton at Home and Arcon housing to join together will now be put out to consultation with tenants over the next few months.