Bail hostels planned for Brighton and Hove (From The Argus)
Get involved: Send your news, views, pictures and video by texting SUPIC to 80360 or email us.
Bail hostels planned for Brighton and Hove
12:00pm Saturday 12th September 2009 in
Bail hostels could be coming to a street near you.
Accommodation centres are being sought by the Ministry of Justice in neighbourhoods in Brighton and Hove.
The news emerged when residents of Dudley Road, in Hollingdean, Brighton, discovered a centre was planned for their street.
Locals said the company who managed the programme, ClearSprings Management, was only required to inform the two houses either side of the earmarked property.
Residents and councillors were seething over the apparent lack of notice, which they feared would have a knock-on effect in the area.
Janet Lowe, of Dudley Road, said: “I can’t believe they would plan such a thing in a quiet residential street.
“I certainly won’t feel safe and I know a lot of parents will think twice before letting their children play outside.
“House prices will plummet if people know there are possible drug users and alcoholics on our street.”
Ward councillor Christine Simpson said: “It is clearly unacceptable that residents and local ward councillors had not been warned or been involved in any consultation.”
Plans for a Bail Accommodation and Support Service (BASS) centre in the street were announced last week.
After a period of indecision The Argus can reveal the proposed site on Dudley Road has now been scrapped.
The reason behind the decision was not disclosed by either the government or the contractor.
The building, which would have housed up to five people, would have been for those who had nowhere else to go after they were released.
The residents could be awaiting trial or may have recently been released from prison.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed its contractor consulted with local authorities and the police when identifying properties.
A spokeswoman for the department said: “The Government is committed to ensuring that no one is denied bail or curfew simply because they do not have anywhere to live. This would not only be unjust but also an irresponsible use of public money.
“Public protection is, however, our priority. That’s why anyone deemed to pose a threat to the local community is not accepted into a BASS and will continue to be held on remand or remain in custody.”
Sussex Police and Brighton and Hove City Council confirmed they are consulted about any sensitivities in the area which proposed BASS properties may affect.
But a spokesman for the council said it had no power of veto over the placing.
Comments(17)
chroma
says...
3:44pm Sat 12 Sep 09
What planet of leftyis are you sitting on?
Vast majority of people in this country don't believe any criminals pay their dues, far from it.
In your twisted opinion, those of who have never fallen foul of the law but paid our dues via our taxes, as we still continue to do so, and our increased insurance premiums to clear up after this lot, are now expected to welcome them as neighbours?
Not in my street, pal.
withnoname
says...
5:28pm Sat 12 Sep 09
chroma wrote:I don,t entirely agree with what you say here for two reasons.
Paid their dues? What planet of leftyis are you sitting on? Vast majority of people in this country don't believe any criminals pay their dues, far from it. In your twisted opinion, those of who have never fallen foul of the law but paid our dues via our taxes, as we still continue to do so, and our increased insurance premiums to clear up after this lot, are now expected to welcome them as neighbours? Not in my street, pal.
First,those who should be inside do their punishment and some want to change.I say that as I read an article where an ex offender wanted to change the error of his ways and met his victims through restorative justice.One of the victims and the ex offender now run a charity together supporting victims of crime and ex offenders, who seriously want to change..
Secondly,there are some people that are falsely accused of crimes everyday and wrongly convicted.That is down to the flawed judicial system and in my opinion those people have paid their dues many times over.Sean Hodgson being one of them...
I rest my case.
Jay-kay
says...
7:23pm Sat 12 Sep 09
stan bailey
says...
10:51pm Sat 12 Sep 09
indiebright wrote:aren't those on bail awaiting trial.. I wish I was optimistic to believe they will be properly supervised, but I very much doubt it
NIMBYism. So some people would rather not have other people, who have paid their dues via their prison sentence, living anywhere near them. Maybe they should think about what might be going on in non bail-hostels where there is no support or any supervision.
“House prices will plummet if people know there are possible drug users and alcoholics on our street.”
Show me a street where possible drug users and alcoholics don't live.
Bruce Gyngell
says...
11:47pm Sat 12 Sep 09
The best thing about Hollingdean is the NO:50 bus (previously known as the Mileoak Shuttle) ---- coming away from it.
indiebright
says...
12:08am Sun 13 Sep 09
chroma wrote:My opinion is different from yours that does not make it twisted.
Paid their dues? What planet of leftyis are you sitting on? Vast majority of people in this country don't believe any criminals pay their dues, far from it. In your twisted opinion, those of who have never fallen foul of the law but paid our dues via our taxes, as we still continue to do so, and our increased insurance premiums to clear up after this lot, are now expected to welcome them as neighbours? Not in my street, pal.
Not in my street pal - thats another way of saying NIMBY so are you agreeing with me?
Can you suggest where people awaiting trial, who have yet to be found guilty of anything, can live if a normal house in a normal street is out of bounds?
And if someone has completed their sentence should they continue to be punished forever by being stigmatised. The system is that prison is the punishment. Once the sentence is served the punishment ends.
For the record I wouldn't describe myself as dwelling on a 'planet of leftyis' I'm guessing you mean lefties? and I know myself a lot better than you do. And I also have never fallen foul of the law and pay my taxes.
stan bailey
says...
7:45am Sun 13 Sep 09
indiebright wrote:The CPS has to be fairly convinced that there is a case to answer, so probably a lot living in the house will be criminals. Statistics show that a great many ex con's reoffend, so living next to them is likely to be a crime waiting to happen. House prices will drop, as few people are going to want to live next door to a load of criminals. Which is hard and unfair on the honest person who goes out to work and pays their taxes.
chroma wrote:My opinion is different from yours that does not make it twisted.
Paid their dues? What planet of leftyis are you sitting on? Vast majority of people in this country don't believe any criminals pay their dues, far from it. In your twisted opinion, those of who have never fallen foul of the law but paid our dues via our taxes, as we still continue to do so, and our increased insurance premiums to clear up after this lot, are now expected to welcome them as neighbours? Not in my street, pal.
Not in my street pal - thats another way of saying NIMBY so are you agreeing with me?
Can you suggest where people awaiting trial, who have yet to be found guilty of anything, can live if a normal house in a normal street is out of bounds?
And if someone has completed their sentence should they continue to be punished forever by being stigmatised. The system is that prison is the punishment. Once the sentence is served the punishment ends.
For the record I wouldn't describe myself as dwelling on a 'planet of leftyis' I'm guessing you mean lefties? and I know myself a lot better than you do. And I also have never fallen foul of the law and pay my taxes.
The ghost of Osama bin there
says...
8:36am Sun 13 Sep 09
The prison system is coming apart at the seams with overcrowding - with more and more criminals avoiding custodial sentences, and more people being put on bail without being held in prison on remand, even though that's where a lot of them should be.
We need more prisons. That's the REAL answer. Then we wouldn't need ANY bail hostels.
The ghost of Osama bin there
says...
8:38am Sun 13 Sep 09
JamesFarter
says...
9:01am Sun 13 Sep 09
Bail hostels -> people on bail awaiting trial, therefore no dues are paid. Generally the hostels are for people who are such a danger to the victims they move them. I personally agree with Osama, bigger prisons is what is required!
indiebright
says...
9:49am Sun 13 Sep 09
to james farter - as above and in the article it states people awaiting trial and those released from prison.
Your assumption that hostels are for people who are a danger to the victims is incorrect.
Osama etc - a prison is not the right place for someone who may be innocent.
bravebeth
says...
9:51am Sun 13 Sep 09
Surlely they need planning permission for change of use from private house to a business.
The ghost of Osama bin there
says...
11:13am Sun 13 Sep 09
indiebright wrote:I chose my words very carefully - I said "even though that's where a lot of them should be."
to stan bailey - many people break the law but are never caught. Unless people know their neighbours very well how can you tell who's broken the law and who hasn't. Maybe we all live next door to criminals. to james farter - as above and in the article it states people awaiting trial and those released from prison. Your assumption that hostels are for people who are a danger to the victims is incorrect. Osama etc - a prison is not the right place for someone who may be innocent.
By that I meant that all those accused of any crime of violence, crime of a sexual nature, or people who would have every reason to flee abroad or dissappear.
They pretty much all used to be kept on remand in prison.
Not these days though - and it's only because there aren't enough prison places - no other reason.
Prison IS the right place for habitual or violent criminals, even if they are still to go to trial.
snerper
says...
2:18pm Sun 13 Sep 09
Jay-kay wrote:What a sad person!
they should just put them in whitehawk... no one would know the difference then
OpenPrison
says...
2:55pm Tue 15 Sep 09
ClearSprings does not provide supervised accommodation for offenders/defendants
. It simply sources buy-to-let properties and fills them with up to five tenants who are either awaiting trial or are finishing their sentence on Home Detention Curfew. It is a lucrative business; last year the ClearSprings chairman declared a taxpayer-funded salary of £637,000 - a year on year increase of around £400,000 - on the back of the BASS (Bail Support and Accommodation Service) contract and another to house asylum seekers.
The only duty which ClearSprings has towards the immediate neighbours of its hostels is to send out an introductory letter giving an emergency 'phone number when the first tenants are installed. The letter makes no mention of offenders/defendants
; it merely states that ClearSprings works with people 'with support needs'. ClearSprings routinely 'forgets' to send out the introductory note; often the neighbours have no idea what has happened to them until the noise starts and the police begin to appear next door regularly.
For the immediate neighbours, ClearSprings is often a disaster. I am not convinced that it is doing anything very much for offenders either. I fail to see how shoving them into an unsupervised, multiple-occupancy house for a few weeks before turfing them out again is supposed magically to transform them into law-abiding citizens.
I haven't met any pitchfork-waving ClearSprings neighbours who want to line offenders up and shoot them or house them in the middle of a motorway. Many people I have contacted have said that they would tolerate a hostel in their area if it were properly sited and supervised. The problem, of course, is money; the ClearSprings project is a cheapskate scheme for everyone concerned except its Chairman and a couple of directors. While it continues to be so, I doubt there will be any real changes in rates of reoffending, which are shocking. 88% of people who are convicted already have a previous offence. Of these, a staggering 37% have ten or more previous convictions.
King from Hove
says...
5:24pm Tue 15 Sep 09
More News stories
- Hosepipe ban plans unveiled
- Charity football match for injured Ben
- NHS pays out £18m after hospital blunders
- Private firm takes over Crawley arts centre
- Hove man arrested over 30-year-old sexual assault claims
- What does your MP do for you?
- Brighton and Hove charity workers fear 'economic homelessness'
- Newhaven man arrested in connection with damage to neighbours' cars
- Brighton councillor sorry for 'cult' tweet
- Albion star swaps scoreboard for blackboard
Most popular
Local Information
Enter your postcode, town or place name
indiebright says...
12:49pm Sat 12 Sep 09
“House prices will plummet if people know there are possible drug users and alcoholics on our street.”
Show me a street where possible drug users and alcoholics don't live.