Housing management organisation East Kent Housing has appointed a new chairman.

Jamie Weir will replace James Queay who announced he was stepping down.

Mr Weir is also head of external affairs at the EKC Group.

The housing association, which looks after 17,000 houses across Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone and Thanet on behalf of the councils which own the stock, has come under fierce criticism over recent months.

Embroiled in a safety scandal, it was revealed in June more than 500 gas safety certificates had not been checked putting thousands of council tenants across east Kent at risk.

It lead to the resignation of property boss Mark Anderson just days after details of the problem emerged.

Now incoming chair Jamie Weir has vowed the organisation is back on track.

He said: "There’s no doubt we’re moving into a new phase at East Kent Housing, and both I and the board believe this can be an exciting period of consolidation and growth.

“We’ve seen some challenges in recent months, but are now coming through them and getting back to delivering a great service for our residents.

"I’m really hopeful our commitment and drive to provide an excellent standard of housing for the communities we serve will start to shine through in the coming months, and I’m looking forward to helping guide the organisation in doing this.”

Chief executive of the organisation, Deborah Upton, said: “On behalf of the whole team at East Kent Housing I am delighted to welcome Jamie as our new chair and look forward to benefiting from his skills and experience as we take the organisation forward with the support of the board.”

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