RESIDENTS of Culver Road have submitted their petition against plans for a halfway house in the area.

In January, residents of the street in Kings Furlong where a 23-bed halfway house is being proposed by charity Two Saints, supported by both the borough and county councils, launched a petition asking for an alternative location to be considered.

They particularly raised concerns around drug use, alcohol, anti-social behaviour and litter, such as that seen at the previous site, May Palace, or in Two saints’ nearby Newbury facility.

Now, residents David Orchard and Steph Coombes have presented the petition to the council.

At a meeting on July 15, Mr Orchard said: “The number of signatures on this petition demonstrates the extraordinary strength of feeling against the proposal for a hostel to accommodate 23 homeless persons.

“We wish to make it clear that we are not in any way opposed to housing the homeless, but Culver Road as a location is not appropriate.

“It is unreasonable that this type of behaviour be transferred into the residential area of Culver Road and aggravate the existing community of people in our area, many of whom have problems of their own.”

He said that measures such as additional CCTV and patrols had been suggested by some, but continued: “That is exactly what we as residents do not want, more accurately we do not want a need for such actions.”

Another Culver Road resident, Francesca Maritan, also spoke at the meeting.

She referred to a covenant on the site, which would have prevented the building of the Two Saints’ facility, but which the council cabinet overturned earlier this year.

Addressing the cabinet member for homes and housing regeneration, Cllr Tristan Robinson, she said: “At the cabinet meeting on March 9 when the covenant was overturned unanimously, Cllr Simon Bound stated that we are not in the game of moving problems about, but solving problems.

“Two Saints has confirmed in correspondence with me that we need to work alongside a wide range of agencies to enable clients to access the support they need. Can the cabinet member explain how moving the hostel from the town centre with proximity to such services to a residential area further away helps to solve the underlying problem of homelessness and the challenges it raises in our borough?”

Ms Maritan also asked for a full risk assessment to be carried out, with findings made public, as well as a guarantee that residents in the area will receive “the same protection as currently afforded in the Top of Town”, including increased CCTV and community patrols.

In response, Cllr Robinson said he “completely understands” the concerns of local residents, however reiterated that the proposal is a “key component” of the council’s strategy to maintain its “incredible record” on homelessness.

“The proposals at Culver Road follow careful consideration of a number of alternative options in recent years - eight sites have been considered and none of them fitted the bill unfortunately,” he said.

“Culver Road is indeed an established residential area and it's right that we should locate new supported living schemes within integrated communities.”

He added that the site is “ideally located” given its “close proximity to town centre but not on top of it”.

“In terms of the location I think it is really important that we do not seek to isolate people who have potentially been isolated previously and that has led to some of the problems.”

Charity Two Saints has submitted an application which will now be reviewed by the development control committee.

Cllr Robinson continued: “I am very happy to meet [residents]. I would also like to thank Cllr Sam Jeans and Cllr Arun Mummalaneni with whom I visited the site the week before last.

“We have spoken to the community safety team and they have agreed to up the number of community safety patrols in that area. We are also looking at CCTV. There will be CCTV certainly outside the building itself but whether there are other appropriate locations, that will be looked at.”