Northern Lincolnshire social housing merger halted

Ongo Homes owns around 10,000 houses in North Lincolnshire

A merger between northern Lincolnshire's two biggest social housing providers has been called off.

In September, Grimsby-based Lincolnshire Housing Partnership (LHP) and Scunthorpe-based Ongo Homes (Ongo) announced they were looking at becoming a joint venture.

The deal was called off following board meetings by both organisations.

Commenting on the end of the merger plan LHP said on its website "this decision was not taken lightly".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Murray Macdonald, LHP chief executive, and Ongo's chief executive Steve Hepworth said in a joint statement: "Following detailed discussions, LHP and Ongo have agreed that the two organisations can best serve their residents by remaining as separate entities and are therefore no longer intending to pursue merger discussions."

Ongo Homes owned just under 10,000, or 85% of North Lincolnshire's social housing stock in 2022, according to government data.

LHP were similarly dominant in North East Lincolnshire, owning 72.6% of its total social housing stock of 9,815 homes.