SOMER HOUSING PLANS: YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD UNDER THREATS

What Mr. Mike Grist, Group Director of business development for Somer implied in the Bath Chronicle of 15 May 2008 is wrong.

Noone from Snow Hill & the London Rd community is against homeless people. The London Rd is one of the last few areas in Bath to offer a mixed community that people here are proud of.

HERE ARE THE REASONS WHY THE LOCAL COMMUNITY IS AGAINST:

• is the location appropriate? This stretch of the London Road has an appalling history of crime and illegal activities.

• why will children be accommodated along with mentally ill people and victims of drug abuse?

• the site is expected to sustain more people than is viable. 65 residential places is serious overcrowding on such a small piece of land.

• Somer has given no clear demonstration of the availability of funding for staffing and maintenance after the hostel`s first three years` of operation.

• why did the council refuse to sell 3 & 4 Longacre on the open market?

• more temporary accommodation will not help to strengthen the community London Rd / Snow Hill.

• how 65 residential places will ease road traffic, parking issue and fight congestion?

• the lovely established garden at the rear of 3 &4 Longacre will be lost. Why allow the loss of public green space when it is an important factor to fight pollution on the London Road? What will be the fate of the trees and shrubs along the boundary of the site?

• the building style & materials used are completely inappropriate for a conservation area e.g. flat roof, modern rendered finish...

• more crime prevention measures are needed in the design especially on the north and east side where informal surveillance by overlooking residents which is a natural deterrent to crime will no longer exist, if not the building will encourage more crime.

• why does the council support an ever increasing number of vulnerable people being accommodated on the London Road?

• is Caroline house/ Longacre a future bail hostel for prisoners released on parole?

• the architectural plans displayed on the street window at Caroline House are meant to inhibit visualisation, particularly of scale and height.

• all the windows of the new building will be on the west side (facing rear of Thomas St) and as the new proposed building will form a U shape with the back of Thomas St and few buildings on the London Road; noise will be reverberating and be amplified considerably. Residents of the London Road are already exposed to very high level of noise and pollution due to traffic.