Another housing association has become the subject of another Housing Corporation inquiry - the second in two weeks after years without one
Sue Berry, chief executive of East London-based Clays Lane housing co-operative, has welcomed this week's announcement by the Housing Corporation that an inquiry has been instituted into "some aspects of the governance of the co-operative".

The news comes a fortnight after the announcement that Liverpool-based Liver housing association would be subjected to an inquiry, scrutinising planned severance payments to top executives in a forthcoming merger (Housing Today, 28 September).

Housing consultant Rodney Dykes has been appointed to conduct the inquiry, the most serious investigative mechanism that the Housing Corporation can bring to bear against a housing association.

Berry said that the Housing Corporation intended to reach a decision whether to use its statutory powers, which include putting an association's stock under alternative management and freezing its grant, by November 3.

She told Housing Today: "The main management committee is of the opinion that the inquiry will be a really good thing. It will make our members see that we are really doing our best by the co-operative, which they currently don't."

Berry added that decision-making at Clays Lane, which provides accommodation for around 450 co-operative members had become impossible. "The rules conflict. If we call a special meeting under rule 30, it's illegal under rule 33 and if we call it under rule 30," she said.

Berry said the corporation had outlined a number of areas of concern to the co-operative. These included the co-operative's rules as an obstacle to its ability to govern, conflicts arising from confidential decision-making relating to employment issues, as well as concerns over general day-to-day management.

Internal wrangling over eligibility to attend meetings by members had also been a factor, she said.

A Housing Corporation spokeswoman said this second inquiry in two weeks was "complete coincidence". But James Tickell, assistant chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: "The corporation is sending a signal that it's more happy to use its statutory powers than it has been in the past".