General Discussion

Found this article..... it's Housing instead of a Youth Centre, but the concerns are the same.

Dismay at council homes programme for alcoholics

16:09 - 16-July-2008

A MEETING of Penzance town council warmed up with foot-stamping cheers when 50 residents filled the public gallery to voice their objections to a housing programme for alcoholics and drug addicts in the town.

At Monday's meeting, residents were cheering speeches made by six people in the public gallery, who were protesting about the programme set up by Penwith District Council, in partnership with a property development company and a private support provider.

It offers single rooms and rehabilitative support to homeless people who can prove they are dry of alcohol, clean of drugs and either have a link to Cornwall or are fleeing violence.

Fourteen houses offering single rooms to 57 people have been set up in Penzance.

Planning permission is not required if the house is set up for six people who live in it together as a family. Permission would more than likely be needed if the rooms were bedsits with a shared kitchen.

“We have to get planning before we can put in a PVC window and I've watched three of these houses being set up in my street and they say no planning permission is needed,” said a resident.

Another resident pleaded with town councillors to stop further development until more is known about the project.

“My family is not a chaotic family and we are being surrounded by these chaotic people living chaotic lifestyles.

“I cannot understand why the elected body in this area is allowing that to happen,” he said.

The project's impact on tourism was also expressed.

“What's the future?,” asked one resident.

“Will Penwith become Cornwall's haven for these types of people now that we've got all the houses set up for them? Will the new unitary authority start sending all their chaotic people down here – why not, we've got the housing already set up?”

The town council explained that while the project had not been set up, the body of their members had been left in the dark about the programme.

The Cornishman first reported the scheme in February.

“Our district councillors have known this was going on since 2005; they could have given us a nod and a wink to tell us what minutes to look at,” said Councillor Keith Perry. However, Jack Dixon, Heamoor town councillor and Gulval and Heamoor ward parish councillor, said the district councillors were left almost as much in the dark.

“All we were told was that the amount of money PDA was paying for B&B accommodation was too high and that they had another company to deal with it.

“We were not told where the properties were. We were not told the nature of it,” he said.

Town councillors voted in favour of setting up a public meeting in St John's Hall within a fortnight.

Penwith's head of housing, Alan Hampshire, the housing programme's coordinators, Gila Trevena Barry Turnbull, and a senior planning officer and member of the police, are being invited.

? Information about the housing project is available on Penzance Town Council's Website. Visit www.penzance-town-council. org.uk