A MERGER between the biggest housing developers in Bracknell and Maidenhead will shut out potential residential investors.

At a Bracknell Forest Council meeting on Wednesday evening, the go ahead was given to amalgamate Bracknell Forest Homes (BFH) and Housing Solutions (HS) - a large scale affordable housing provider in Maidenhead.

Officers argued the move would 'provide greater balance sheet strength', 'improve borrowing capacity' and, amongst other positives, 'maximise strategic influence'.

Now the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and the two companies need to agree to the proposals at meetings later this month. 

Since council stock was transferred to BFH in 2008, it now owns 6,020 properties and boasts a 90 per cent customer satisfaction - five per cent higher than HS, which has grown its housing stock by 35 per cent since taking over from Windsor and Maidenhead Council in 1995.

A report put to the Council reads: "There are important synergies between the organisations that make a merger viable.

"They have shared visions, complimentary geography, commitment to partnership working with their host local authorities, good customer services and are of broadly equivalent size so that the new RSL would result from a merger of equals."

The merger comes at a potential cost to tenants however.

Shareholding will now be restricted to board members only, shutting out both the Council and residents who have bought into the company.

Also, tenants will no longer be able to manage their own properties, a right enshrined in the 2008 agreement that has, according the council, led to 'no appetite from residents to take over management of their homes.'

Labour Councillor Mary Temperton, the only non-Conservative councillor in Bracknell Forest, said: "(The report) says when a shareholder ceases to be a shareholder or is expelled from the Association, his or her share shall be cancelled.

"The amount paid up on that share shall become the property of the Association.

"Will they be getting anything back?"

Executive Member for Housing Dale Birch said that shareholder rights would be amalgamated as part of the merger, but promised to check the ins and outs for Cllr Temperton.

A spokesperson from BFH said: "“Bracknell Forest Homes and Housing Solutions have been considering a potential merger which would create a larger association that would build on both organisations’ strong commitment to addressing the housing shortage in the region, and have been consulting with their stakeholders.

"Bracknell Forest Homes is a not-for-profit organisation (it is an exempt charity) and as such its shares have a nominal value of £1. Shareholders are not entitled to a dividend as all surpluses are re-invested in homes and services. The £1 paid is held by the association.

“The proposed merger will change the shareholding structure from one where customers and the Council hold proportions of shares to a more appropriate approach where only those appointed to the Board will be shareholders."