A new chair been appointed to head the board of Tower Hamlets Homes with a cool �165 million to spend on home improvements in London’s East End.

Barry Simons takes the reigns with a healthy bank account earmarked for regeneration.

“This role feels like coming home,” he said. “My mother was brought up in Stepney and my father worked in the London Docks—now I’m able to make a difference to people in the East End.”

Barry is former housing director at neighbouring Newham as well as two other London boroughs, Brent and Hammersmith & Fulham, and more recently was interim housing chief at Redbridge.

Two tenants have also been appointed as Tower Hamlets resident board members, Margaret Cox and Shamsul Hoque.