We have launched a new pilot in Moreton-in-Marsh and 12 surrounding villages as part of our ongoing commitment to place-based working.
This pilot will explore how our locally focused and relationship-led approach can be tailored to meet the needs of rural communities. Unlike previous pilots in more urban locations, such as Staple Hill near Bristol, this community presents a very different set of opportunities and challenges - from the spread of our homes across a wider geography to transport links and access to services.
“This is massively different to our other pilots. Moreton and the surrounding villages are more isolated, with smaller pockets of homes across a much larger rural patch. Some villages have only a handful of homes - several don’t have shops, amenities or any public transport. That creates very different needs and questions for us to explore,” said Rachel Coley, Place Team Leader.
As part of the pilot, we have expanded the team involved in place-based working. Alongside neighbourhood coaches, colleagues from income, empty homes, investment, engineers, cleaning, grounds maintenance, and retirement living are now actively involved.
Rachel added: “We’re using this pilot to work more closely with other teams, trying new ways of working together and understanding how we can support customers in rural areas more effectively. For example, investment colleagues are joining regular catch-ups with the rest of the team so we can make decisions more quickly, and we’re thinking hard about long-term plans for homes that may not be best placed for the future.”
Many of the homes in the area were transferred from the local council and are now in need of significant investment. The pilot will help us explore how best to manage and improve those homes, including looking at options for investment or potential redevelopment in larger village hubs.
The new pilot builds on learning from Staple Hill, where place-based working has already started to deliver improvements. In February 2025, 80% of repairs in Staple Hill were fixed first time, compared to an average of 64% across the rest of the West of England. Over the same period, the percentage of repairs completed on time rose from 39% in February 2024 to 82% in February 2025.
“We chose Moreton because it represents a very different part of our geography - and much of where we work is rural. It’s the perfect opportunity to test how this way of working can flex to meet different needs, and we’re curious about what we’ll learn as the pilot develops,” said John Wade, Director of Strategy.
The Moreton-in-Marsh pilot is part of our wider commitment to tailoring our approach to local communities, putting relationships at the heart of what we do, and learning what works best in different places.