The Michael Blanning Trust
Charity 266691
Overview
Summary
The Michael Blanning Trust appears to occupy a focused, asset-based role in supporting older people: its charitable activity is centred on accommodation or housing delivered through buildings, facilities or open space. The available evidence suggests that the organisation’s contribution may lie less in providing a broad range of care services and more in maintaining the physical conditions that enable older people to live with greater security or stability. Its precise model, scale and local relationships remain unknown.
Operational geography
Evidence and reasoning
Supporting evidence
Moseley
Confidence: medium
The Housing Association operating alongside the Trust currently identifies The Shires, a 72-apartment extra-care retirement scheme at 218 Wake Green Road, as a Moseley development. Birmingham City Council's planning record for the same 216–220 Wake Green Road site identifies both the applicant as Michael Blanning Trust Housing Association Ltd and the ward as Moseley. The evidence strongly supports an active operational site in the ward, though the registered charity and the Housing Association are distinct legal entities.
- MBTHA, 'Wake Green Road' page
States that The Shires at 218 Wake Green Road, Moseley, Birmingham B13 9PQ is a purpose-built retirement-living community of 72 apartments, with care and support available as needed, and describes it as the Housing Association's first purpose-built extra-care scheme. - Birmingham City Council planning application 2014/05515/PA
Records 216–220 Wake Green Road, Moseley as a proposal for 72 Class C2 elderly extra-care apartments with facilities; identifies the applicant as Michael Blanning Trust Housing Association Ltd and the ward as Moseley. - Charity Commission register, The Michael Blanning Trust, charity 266691
Records the charity's activity as provision of accommodation for the elderly, consistent with the linked housing operation.
Remaining uncertainties
- The Michael Blanning Trust (charity 266691) and Michael Blanning Trust Housing Association Ltd are described by the Housing Association as organisations established to work alongside one another, but the available evidence does not fully establish which entity legally owns, funds or directly delivers services at The Shires.
- The available current evidence identifies one Birmingham operational site, in Moseley. It does not support a conclusion that the Trust itself delivers services across Birmingham more widely.
- The supplied Colmore Square address appears to be a correspondence or professional-services address and has not been treated as an operational site.
- The regional coverage classification is an interpretation of the Housing Association's stated current properties in Moseley, Dorridge and Balsall Common; only the Moseley site is within Birmingham and mapped here.
Additional evidence needed
- A current annual report, audited accounts, asset register or formal governance document showing the legal and operational relationship between the Trust and Michael Blanning Trust Housing Association Ltd.
- Confirmation from the Trust or Housing Association of the current ownership, management and service-delivery arrangements for The Shires.
- A current list of all sites operated by each entity, including whether any further Birmingham locations are active.
Areas of work
- Accommodation/housing
Who they help
- Elderly/old People
How they help
- Provides Buildings/facilities/open Space
Discoveries involving this organisation
The Atlas has not published any Discoveries involving this organisation yet.
Observations
A housing-led approach to supporting older people
The Trust appears to address the needs of elderly people primarily through accommodation or housing, rather than through directly evidenced care, advice or social activities.
Why it matters
This distinguishes the organisation as a potential provider of enabling infrastructure: its role may be to create or preserve a stable living environment that other support services can build around.
Show evidence
“Who the charity helps: Elderly/old People.”
Source:Charity Commission“What the charity does: Accommodation/housing.”
Source:Charity Commission
Its charitable value may be embedded in physical assets
The Trust may operate through ownership, provision or stewardship of buildings, facilities or open space, making its practical contribution potentially dependent on the condition and accessibility of physical assets.
Why it matters
Asset-based organisations can be important but less visible parts of a local support system. Understanding their properties, capacity and use could reveal opportunities for partnership, adaptation or better coordination with services for older residents.
Show evidence
“How the charity helps: Provides Buildings/facilities/open Space.”
Source:Charity Commission“What the charity does: Accommodation/housing.”
Source:Charity Commission
- Whether the Trust provides housing directly, funds it, or makes property available to another organisation.
- Where its accommodation is located, how many people it reaches and whether it serves particular groups of older people.
- Whether residents receive care, tenancy support or connections to other local services.
Remaining uncertainties
- The Trust’s governing objects, annual report and accounts.
- Information on properties, occupancy, referral routes and delivery partners.
- Evidence of how older people experience and benefit from the accommodation.