New Chair for Coastline Housing

Social landlord Coastline Housing has appointed Mark Duddridge as the new Chair of its Board.

Mark, who is currently also Chair of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership, will take up his position as Chair of the Cornish housing charity at the start of July.

Mark has previously been a Group Director at Samworth Brothers, a £1billion chilled food business operating out of 17 sites across the Midlands and Cornwall. Predominantly an own label manufacturer Samworth developed Ginsters and latterly Soreen into nationally recognised brands.

He has also been a Director at Rodda’s Clotted Cream and Managing Director at Pasta King. Mark has an extensive track record in delivering business growth and attracting key economic investments both locally and nationally.

In addition, he is an associate Non Executive Director of the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and a Watershare+ Panel member for Pennon Group.

Mark says of his appointment: “I am absolutely delighted to be given the opportunity of taking over from Peter Stephens as Chair of Coastline later this year. Through my role working on economic development for Cornwall and Scillies I have followed the progress of Coastline and am acutely aware of the overwhelming need from our local community for Coastline to continue to grow and extend its provision. The challenge for high quality affordable housing has never been higher. I would like to thank Peter for all he has done for Coastline and thank everyone for the warm welcome I have been given.”

Peter Stephens, who is currently Interim Chair at Coastline Housing, said: “Coastline has been fortunate to come through the Covid crisis in a strong position and has maintained the majority of its services during this difficult period. We welcome Mark with his strong background in Cornwall to take us forward on the next step of our development with a new and challenging Coastline Plan 2021-25 to play a full role in Cornwall’s recovery from the pandemic and to continue our support for housing and communities.”

Mark joins Coastline as it prepares to launch a new strategic plan covering the period up to 2025, outlining the leading role Coastline will play in helping to solve the housing and homelessness crisis in Cornwall.