Residents of a Newport road have said they feel like they are a ‘tick box exercise’ in the way of a homeless support hostel getting the planning permission it wants.
Two Saints is hoping to transform Castle Lodge B&B, on Castle Road, into a house of multiple occupancy (HMO) as part of the Isle of Wight Council’s homeless help pathway. The accommodation would help those ready to live more independently while they find somewhere more permanent to live.
Permission has been granted to change the use of the building but Isle of Wight councillors, unsatisfied by the lack of consultation between residents of the road and Two Saints, imposed a 3-year trial to see how the HMO performed.
Now, Two Saints is asking to remove the trial period condition due to a funding issue which could see the HMO not go ahead at all.
Speaking at a meeting with Castle Road residents, Two Saints’ regional director James McDermott said if it did not get the money from Homes England, it would walk away from the property.
In planning documents, Homes England confirmed it cannot give the grant money with the current conditions, as the properties it supports must have a life expectancy of 30 years.
After the meetings, however, some Castle Road residents said they had more concerns than before, with few of their questions answered. They said they had accepted the 3-year condition and come to terms with it but the removal of the time frame was like taking away their protective safety net.
According to residents, no consultation happened before Two Saints submitted the variation application but the 2 public meetings since felt like a tick-box exercise and they had not been considered through the process.
In objections submitted online to the council’s planning portal, residents said the communication with Two Saints has ‘broken down’. Two Saints, however, has thanked residents for their engagement and communication in recent weeks.
Mr McDermott said:
“We acknowledge this application may cause concern to some and, to speak directly with as many neighbours as possible, we’ve arranged an additional meeting on the evening of September 13, for those who were unable to attend our earlier daytime meetings.
“Letters advising how to book a place have been circulated.
“Working in partnership, we intend to bring use of both government grant and our own resources to invest in providing housing on the Isle of Wight and to support the local housing authority to deliver their homeless strategy.
“Our overall aim is to provide housing for the benefit of Isle of Wight residents who find themselves without a home.”
The First of Many !! Screw the people living in the road !!
They are trapped !!
I suggest they follow the money & sell up
Expect a few nearby houses to go up for sale if this goes ahead. Then likely more of the same lower types will move in and the whole area goes downhill fast.
has it ever occurred to these over zealous do gooding, interfering nobodies, that the residents do not want their doss house, drug and drink hostel in their street.
The residents have worked hard to buy their homes and have a decent standard of life for theirselves and are not going to have it ruined by a bunch of hand wringing do gooders, that don’t even live in the street or even on the island. These do gooders are determined to wreck the street by filling it with violent drunks, drug addicts and dossers – just like green street ryde is – anyone been around there lately..it is an unwelcoming place -and no one wants to buy the houses there
two saints are not a charity ..if they were, they wouldn’t be trying to destroy the mental health of the residents of the street, by filling it with deadbeats, against their will.
If the residents say no, then two saints should clear off – and house the deadbeats in their own street, next door to their own houses.
residents need to keep refusing this, as once it is in, there houses will be worth far less and the area will be far more dangerous for anyone to be around, especially at night
Well Mr James Mc Dermott, how about you “walk away” and set up one of your little projects in the same road as you live in? then you can enjoy the results of what your type inflict on other people.
Having lived for many years adjacent to 4 Southern Housing Group (SHG) HMOs in our road in Newport I fell qualified to comment. Thankfully SHG have now closed down these HMOs.
Each of these houses contained 7/8 bedrooms with communal kitchens and bathrooms etc, Accordingly there were some 30 or so people with social or psychological or drug related or alcohol related conditions at any one time living in 4 terraced houses adjacent to each other. At night, only one of the houses was supervised by a member of staff who was forbidden to investigate ASB in the remaining 3 houses. Police and ambulances were a daily and nightly feature.
These people need to be removed from society. Mental homes should be re built as it would be cheaper to have one secure place rahter than hundreds of seperate buildings for these waste of space and air beings.
I bet you are/were gutted when you lost the second world war.
May I suggest that YOU should ask the Planning Department to permit the transfer of this HMO application to the property neighbouring your own
When you buy a house. That’s it you don’t buy the pavement the road or the views.if you want to control what’s going on around you it’s best don’t love in a built up area. We’re there are people less fortunate than you. We are not all blessed with fortune.
Good shout mate, we do not live in the garden of Eden, we live in a society where some people struggle, It is called civilization. This island is not some sort of private utopia for the f-in baby boomers whom bleed this country dry.
Ting tong – then we can rest assured that they will be welcome in your home and next door to you – problem solved.
I’m only too aware of what it’s like to be less fortunate, having grown up in abject poverty with mainly loveless and abusive childhood, but it did not turn me into a drug addict or alkie or someone who goes around not caring how I may impact on others lives if I were to be loud and antisocial, Sadly others don’t offer me the same consideration. Do gooders supposed to help people regard me as ‘privileged’ merely for not turning out how they think I *should* have done, they don’t like it because it makes less excuses for the types they stick up for if someone with a worse upbringing and more hardship did not turn out the same.
We have one in Newbury; constant source of criminality.
Who asked you grockal….! X
Wow – these comments sure are a compendium of compassion !!
You all need to congratulate yourselves for demonstrating who the ‘low-lifes’ really are.
I imagine the vitriol displayed here tops the actual Castle St residents’ own objections to the HMO proposal.
NIMBY when you don’t even live there.
Don’t talk to me about compassion! Those types get more compassion than anybody from all the army of do gooders who always are watching out for them. Yet let the do gooders meet someone who had a worse life but who did not turn out the same and they have no compassion for them at all. Pretty obvious why!