Michelle Thomas

Michelle has worked in the affordable housing sector for 32 years, both in local government and with national and regional Housing Associations.  Her work has focused mainly on the development of new affordable homes and communities in urban and rural areas across England and Wales.  This has included bringing previous commercial and industrial buildings into residential use to breathe new life into towns and villages.  Most recently, Michelle was Managing Director of Oxford City Housing Ltd, a company set up by Oxford City Council to increase the supply of new affordable, low carbon homes across the City.

Although originally from the Midlands, Michelle has lived in Wiltshire for over 30 years, firstly in Holt and then for the last 26 years in Chippenham.  She is also a Trustee of a Wiltshire-based charity called Open Blue, which utilises a converted double decker bus staffed by volunteers, plus play equipment, cooking facilities and IT resources, to provide support and opportunities to remote and excluded groups across Wiltshire.