New plan after Highcliffe hostel row (From Hampshire Chronicle)

New plan after Highcliffe hostel row

3:50pm Sunday 12th February 2012 in News By Warwick Payne

IT was the scheme that led to protests and placards a decade ago, but now, a new plan for homes is looming.

Residents in Highcliffe fought tooth and nail to block a supported housing hostel in Fivefields Road.

Former criminals could have been amongst the tenants, along with teenagers leaving care and single mothers.

With emotions running high, Winchester City Council pulled the plug on the project in 2003.

A decade later, the garages that would have made way for the hostel are still standing.

Yet their days might be numbered as the council is lining up a different scheme for the site.

This time it wants to build five affordable homes with low-cost rents for people on its housing waiting list.

Cllr Tony Coates, cabinet member for housing, said they had 4,500 applicants on the list, which is rising.

He added that a planning application could be made within the next three months.

However, they would ask residents to comment before the plans are submitted.

He said: “There should be a pre-application consultation with people, and they would also have three or four weeks to comment if the plan goes in.”

Antony de Peyer, who chairs Highcliffe Community Forum for Action, said they planned to hold a meeting on the issue.

It would take place once the council finished talks with Sovereign Housing, which would provide the homes, he said.

Mr de Peyer added that the lack of consultation on the supported housing scheme must not be repeated.

“Everybody knows what happened last time and everybody knows it must not happen again,” he said.

One of the residents who led the campaign against the hostel said the new scheme might fare better.

Ron Cassidy, who is a retired army major, pointed to a survey carried out after the hostel plan emerged.

He said: “While almost everybody was against the hostel, it seemed about 85 to 90 per cent of people were in favour of housing on that site.”

He added that many of the garages that would be lost were being used for storage, often by people from outside Highcliffe.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a big problem with this new plan,” he said.