We’re exploring a merger with Chelmer Housing Partnership (CHP) to create a new, single organisation that would allow us to build more homes, invest more in our properties, and improve services for all customers.
You may have questions about this before giving us your feedback. We've tried to answer as many as we can below.
Our consultation is open until Friday 24th October 2025.
Estuary and CHP both know how important it is to keep improving customer service, looking after existing homes, and building more affordable homes across Essex.
We’ve spent time exploring whether joining together could help us do more. It’s clear that merging could bring real benefits. Both organisations are locally focused, forward-thinking, and well respected. By combining our strengths, we could create a new, stronger organisation that’s better placed to meet the needs of current and future customers.
As we shared in our initial press release, Ian Martin, Estuary's Chief Executive, and Paul Edwards, CHP's Chief Executive, believe in the potential of this merger:
"Estuary and CHP share clear strategic alignment, and this is a brilliant opportunity to bring together two strong organisations into one, which is why we believe there’s merit in further exploring a merger. We’re already committed individually to positively contributing to tackling the housing crisis within Essex. Together, we’d be a powerful influence on future housing strategy and further development in the county.”
“We share similar visions, values and culture, as well as matching geography. We think these similarities are huge benefits that would allow us to work effectively together to deliver the best possible service to our customers.”
Right now, housing associations are facing tough challenges – from rising costs to increasing demand for affordable homes, and our location amplifies some of these problems.
Both Estuary and CHP have recently reviewed their Corporate Strategies, and exploring the merger is part of how we could deliver our new strategies.
Merging as one organisation has the potential to bring us the financial capacity to achieve our shared ambitions faster, more effectively, and with greater resilience than either organisation could do alone, benefiting both current and future customers.
The proposal is that Estuary will undertake a transfer of engagements to CHP and both organisations would combine to form a single organisation with a new name.
Estuary and CHP are strong on their own – but we believe we’d be even stronger together.
Joining forces could give us more financial strength, so that we could do more for our customers. We share similar values, work in similar areas, and have a lot in common when it comes to how we work and what we want to achieve. As a single, bigger organisation, this wouldn’t change, and we hope that coming together will help us do things better and faster.
If the merger goes ahead, we could:
We don’t believe so, based on a process of investigation into one another. Based on the work we’ve done so far, we see the merger as a positive step and haven’t identified any disadvantages.
It would take some time and resources to bring the people, services and systems of both organisations together. We recognise that in the short term, there might be a small risk of disruption to the level of service you receive from us as we do this. In the longer term, we believe that a merged organisation would help us improve services and result in an even better customer experience.
Over the past few months, we’ve been looking at the benefits and downsides of merging in more detail through a process called ‘due diligence’. The results of this due diligence, along with what you tell us in this consultation, will help us make our final decision about whether to merge.
CHP has more than 12,500 properties. These are mainly general needs, with some leasehold, shared ownership, and market rent housing. They’re focused on Essex, with operations stretching into Suffolk and East Hertfordshire. Their head office is in Chelmsford.
Estuary has 4,500 homes. These are mainly general needs, with some leasehold, market rent, and supported housing. We are focused on South Essex, with operations stretching into East London and Suffolk. Our head office is in Southend.
Since 2024, we’ve reported our performance based on the Regulator of Social Housing’s Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs). They assess how well landlords are doing in providing good quality homes and services. You can find our latest TSM results on our website www.estuary.co.uk/tenant-satisfaction-measures You can also view CHP’s TSM results on its website: www.chp.org.uk/tenant-satisfaction-measures.
There are several reasons why we believe this partnership would work well:
Nothing will change unless it’s agreed that the merger will proceed. It's business as usual for both Estuary and CHP. Our priority remains the same: to continue improving the services we provide to our customers.
No. Your rent and/or service charges wouldn’t increase as a direct result of the merger. Your rent and service charges would continue to be reviewed each year in the same way they are now. Where you are a tenant, the current protections over how much your rent can increase year on year (as set out by the Regulator of Social Housing) would continue.
Yes, the merger would not affect your relationship with us as a customer. Your right to live in your home would stay the same.
The terms of your lease, your statutory rights and the services you receive would stay the same.
The terms of your shared ownership agreement, rights and the services you receive would stay the same.
No. Your welfare benefits will remain the same unless your own personal circumstances change.
You'll receive the same services you currently do, there are no current proposals for these to change as part of the merger. In the short term, there might be some disruption to the level of service you receive (please see question on potential disadvantages above).
It’s still business as usual…. we’ll let you of any changes in advance. If the merger is approved by the Boards of Estuary and CHP, it is anticipated that the merger would occur in April 2026.
We’re committed to providing ways for you to get involved and help us improve our services. We want to know what’s important to you and how we can improve our offer.
These opportunities to have your say will continue after the consultation ends as we are keen for you to influence how we design and deliver our services going forward. Further information regarding how you can get involved will be circulated to those who express their interest to get involved as part of the consultation.
No, it doesn’t, but being bigger would give us opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise be available. We’d have greater financial capacity to invest in homes and services, as well as access to a larger, more experienced workforce from both Estuary and CHP.
One of the reasons we think merging is a good idea is that Estuary and CHP are very similar in lots of ways. We have a shared culture in that both organisations prioritise customers, communities and colleagues, and this wouldn’t change. We operate in similar geographical areas, and while merging would mean we’d have more customers and homes to serve, we’d also have the combined experience and expertise of employees from Estuary and CHP.
We’re sorry you don’t think you get good service from us. We want you to enjoy living in your home and aim to get things right the first time, but we recognise that this isn’t always the case. From the work we’ve been doing in looking at a merger, we believe that by coming together, we’d have more capacity to invest, so our services should stay the same or get better. Please continue to raise issues with us and tell us when we get things wrong. We listen to what customers tell us and learn from our mistakes to improve things, which wouldn’t change if we merged.
We’re pleased that you're happy with the services you receive from us. As we’ve said in a previous answer, it would take some time to bring the people, services and systems of both organisations together. In the short term, this means there’s a small risk of disruption to the level of service you receive from us. In the longer term, we believe a merged organisation would give us more capacity to invest and help us improve services and result in a good customer experience.
As with any service provider, there will be some people who are really happy with the service they receive, and some people won’t be. It wouldn’t be right for us to comment on CHP’s performance specifically, but their performance is comparable to ours. Like us, CHP will use customer feedback to help improve its services. As we’ve said in previous answers, from the work we’ve been doing in looking at a merger, we believe that by coming together, services would stay the same or get better.
Your feedback will help us to make the appropriate recommendation to the Board as it helps us to understand how you feel about our proposals and why you might have concerns. More importantly, your feedback, like all the other customer engagement we do, will also help us look at our future priorities and actions. Our boards have the responsibility to take your feedback – as well as lots of other factors – into consideration when deciding whether to go ahead with the merger.
Throughout this process, we’ve been looking at and learning from other housing associations that have been through similar mergers, and they’ve found that they’ve made savings in the longer term. As you’d expect, we’ve been looking at finances during our work exploring the merger so far. If we merge, we’d have more capacity and money to invest in services, the quality of our existing homes, and in building new affordable homes to meet housing need across Essex. We need to invest in order to improve our services.
No. The proposed merger has not been planned as a cost-saving exercise. As we’ve said in other answers, if we merge, we’d actually have more capacity and money to invest, and we need to invest in order to improve our services. Through merging, we’d have more customers and homes to serve, so the combined number of employees from Estuary and CHP would be advantageous.