Behind-closed-doors meeting helps clear the air in house row

Oct 9 2008 by Shirley Bartynek, Hamilton Advertiser

RESIDENTS concerned about the sale and future use of a £250,000 home in Netherton this week held private meeting with council officials.

The residents and officials discussed the acquisition of the four-bedroom detached property, in Witcutt Way, Netherton, for a ‘supported living programme’.

A 400-name petition, expressing anxiety about the future use of the house, has been submitted to North Lanarkshire Council.

Fifteen members of Netherton Families Action Group, who organised the petition, attended Monday’s meeting at North Lanarkshire Council’s headquarters in Motherwell.

Karen Charnley, a spokesperson for the action group said: “We welcomed the meeting and explained to the council that if they had communicated with the residents in the very early stages things may not have spiralled like this.

“We explained to the council that no-one in this area is against supported living, all we want are guarantees that the people who would be going into this house would not pose a threat to anyone in the community.

“We felt we should have been notified of what was happening in our community and why a house of this size was sourced for just two people.

“Many questions still remain unanswered but we do feel that from this meeting we can now hopefully move forward.”

The council’s chief executive Gavin Whitefield, Mary Castles, head of social work services, Councillor John Pentland and Duncan Mackay, head of housing and social work resources, were amongst those at the meeting.

Mary Castles, Executive Director of Housing and Social Work Services, said: “Over the two and a half hours of the meeting, the council and partners provided detailed responses to the wide range of statements and questions raised by the residents, following their public meeting last month.

"We listened carefully to residents' concerns that this accommodation could be used in future to provide support for people with offending behaviour who may present a risk to the community - both the council and the police gave repeated assurances that this accommodation would not be used to house anyone who would pose a threat to the community.

"Many of the residents had no opposition to the council approach to supported living but expressed concerns about how this had been communicated.

“We have taken this on board, while stressing the constraints placed on the council to share confidential information which might infringe of any individual's right to privacy.

"We agreed that we would issue a joint minute of the meeting to be made publicly available. We hope that the meeting will enable everyone involved to move forward positively on this issue."

Council officials and councillors had declined an invitation to a public meeting which was attended by more than 100 residents last month.

The house in Witcutt Way was purchased by Sanctuary for £258,000, which, the council say, was less than the independent market valuation of the property.

The association is a charitable organisation and housing provider.

The council contributed £196,000 to the purchase using grant funding.

Council chiefs say the money was transferred to them from an NHS budget.

That budget is used to accommodate patients moved into the community following hospital closure programmes.

Council officials have defended the purchase of the house.

They say that there was no suitable alternative accommodation available.